Mercari, Inc.

Mercari is in the midst of revolutionizing work processes within the company to achieve AI-led growth. In this latest article, Takanori Yamashita (山下 高範) from the Corporate Engineering Team and AI Implementation Officer Gomi Hayakawa explain the steps we’re taking to build momentum among members toward implementing effective ways of leveraging AI and LLMs on a company, team, and individual level. Read the article here: https://lnkd.in/d8zNWNNm #mercari #AI #LLM

Today is Black Friday—but at Mercari, we celebrate #GreenFriday! Green Friday is a movement that calls for environmentally-friendly, sustainable consumption through ways such as treating items more carefully so they last longer, in contrast to the overconsumption generated by annual Black Friday sales. For our fifth year promoting Green Friday, we held a three-day event in Harajuku titled Green Friday Project 2024: A Sustainable Fashion Festival With No New Clothing, featuring a sustainable fashion show, a clothing exchange booth, and workshops teaching attendees to upcycle and repair items themselves. Learn more about the event here: https://lnkd.in/eN5_6rXH Or watch a video summary here: https://lnkd.in/eVxcDSVp　(available in Japanese) #mercari #sustainability

At Mercari, we're utilizing AI/LLM technology not only to enhance the user experience of our product, but to boost productivity in our day-to-day work. Our Corporate Engineering Team is currently taking an AI/LLM-based approach to advance operations within the company. In a new article covering our initiatives around AI, we ask members of the team Hiroaki (Hiro) Shintani, Tsuyoshi Koizumi, and Takanori Yamashita (山下 高範) about what they’re doing to promote use of this technology toward achieving their mission of unleashing the potential of Mercari with engineering and execution. Read the article here: https://lnkd.in/gPACHjiW #mercari #AI #LLM

🎁 Merci Box Stories 🎁 Vol. 4 Beyond childbirth and childcare leave, Mercari’s Merci Box benefits package also offers financial support for childcare, babysitting, and more. QA engineer Yumi Kinoshita shares her experience raising her two daughters through and past the pandemic. “I’ve been a QA engineer at Mercari since 2015, testing new features and conducting regular release cycle testing to guarantee the quality of the Mercari app and ensure a smooth release each time. Currently, I’m part of the Ads Team, handling QA for search result ads and related tools. During my time at Mercari, I have been blessed with two beautiful daughters. It goes without saying that being a working mom while raising two small children comes with many challenges, especially during a pandemic. Thanks to Mercari’s Merci Box benefits package, I was able to start my childbirth and childcare leave early and applied for about a year off both times. When it came time to return, though, the first time was around April of 2020, right at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both the city and my daughter’s daycare instructed us to stay home, and I didn’t know how I could return to work while taking care of my baby. The second time, in April of 2022, daycare was extremely competitive and I was unable to secure a spot at a daycare for my second daughter. Both times, upon communicating my situation to the company, I was able to receive an extension for my leave to a total of around two years each. After returning to work, I have been taking advantage of Merci Box’s financial support for childcare to hire a babysitter who can spend time with my daughters after daycare and take care of them when they get sick. This has allowed me peace of mind to focus on my work when I need to during the day knowing that my children are being taken good care of. In combination with flexible working hours and a truly supportive manager and team, I am allowed the time, financial, and emotional freedom to balance my work with time with my family. I’m so grateful for an environment that gives working moms the support they need to continue their careers while caring for their family.” Learn more about Merci Box and our various benefits here: https://lnkd.in/eyBh8557 #mercari #lifeatmercari #mercibox

AI has the potential to change the world, but it’s up to us to make that world a reality by turning technology into practical products and services that add convenience and value to society. In this article, we ask some of the key figures behind AI at Mercari, Masato Mark Yamamoto, Shunya Kimura, and Gomi Hayakawa (ハヤカワ 五味), to tell us about Mercari’s history with AI, where we’re headed with it, and our initiatives to ensure a better future for society. Read the article here: https://lnkd.in/ev76SA-x #mercari #AI #LLM

Mercari’s Public Relations Team works to tell stories that connect Mercari's business actions with our mission. In a new article on Mercan, head of Mercari Group PR Yuichi Miyamoto, CEO of Work Asami Ota (太田 麻未), and CPO Takaaki SHINOHARA discuss PR’s dedication to creating rapport between Mercari and our users, our communications strategy for Mercari Hallo’s launch, and the importance of collaboration between product experience and PR. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eWJ6WMdG #mercari #publicrelations

The “Why I Work Here” series on Mercan, our company blog, introduces members who are unleashing their potential at Mercari. The latest article features Ioko Tsuda, a member of the Corporate PR Team. Ioko has been involved in corporate PR since joining in 2018, just in time to take on PR tasks surrounding Mercari’s IPO and visit India for the filming of a documentary project on Mercari’s overseas new graduate hiring. Interested in contributing to a sustainable society through business, she joined Mercari with the hope of working on the company’s image to spread awareness of and empathy for our founding mission, and has played a large role in ESG initiatives such as the Mercari Eco Pack. Read more about her unique experiences and drive to create a circular economy through PR in the full article! https://lnkd.in/d6Jut2FU #mercari  #publicrelations

Applications are now open for AI Buildathon by Inception Studio, being hosted at Mercari’s Tokyo office this November! The theme of this hackathon is “Dive Deep,” and participants will be given a concentrated timeframe to deeply explore real-world issues and develop solutions in the form of innovative, practical AI services and businesses that will be used widely throughout society. Participants are also free to bring their own ideas for AI services outside of the 3 topics that will be provided at the event. Judges will include co-founder of Inception Studio John Whaley(ウェーリー ジョン), Head of Venture Capital Business Development at Google Takeaki Dohda, Ph.D., and more. Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to tackle global challenges and build bonds over an immersive 3-day experience! Dates: Nov 15, 7 PM: Kickoff Nov 16–17: AI Buildathon See event details and apply here: https://lu.ma/tewjarc9 #mercari #AI #hackathon #thinkglobal #divedeep

🎁 Merci Box Stories 🎁 Vol. 3 Mercari offers financial support for fertility treatments as one of the many avenues through which we support our members and their families in life. This time, we talk to Taro Ito, who took advantage of Merci Box’s fertility treatment benefits to welcome his first child to the family. “I’m Taro from Mercari’s Corporate Engineering Division, which works to realize new enterprise IT solutions necessary for a global company. Within this division, I lead the IT Service Management Team to implement world-standard management of IT services for Mercari Group. I’m also in charge of financial planning and analysis for the Corporate Engineering Division as a whole. I joined Mercari in March 2022, at a time when my wife and I had been looking to grow our family. Upon learning about Mercari's Merci Box benefits, one month later I applied for financial support for fertility treatments. I was worried the application process might be complicated, or that only people who met certain criteria would be accepted, but it was much simpler than I thought, and my wife and I received support for about a year. I'm happy to say that our daughter was born in October of last year. Since January, I’ve also used other benefits offered by Merci Box, namely financial support for childcare and financial support for daycare for sick children. I have also been genuinely impressed by how quickly and thoughtfully Mercari updates and adapts the various benefits included within Merci Box to societal changes. My wife and I share the belief that you should never give up on pursuing the things you really want in life. Even then, with all the difficulties we faced in the process of conceiving and raising our lovely daughter, we were close to making numerous sacrifices in our careers and in our lives. The strong support offered by Mercari helped us out not only financially, but emotionally, too. I’m so thankful to everyone involved with Merci Box for the huge impact it has had on my family.” Learn more about Merci Box and our various benefits here: https://lnkd.in/eyBh8557 #mercari #lifeatmercari #mercibox

Exciting Opportunity for Students Abroad! We are thrilled to announce a special open door event for students outside of Japan who are passionate about pursuing a career in Software Engineering. Whether you're interested in frontend, backend, machine learning, or mobile development (Android/iOS), this is your chance to explore a 2-month paid internship in Japan! 🗓 When: November 6, 2024, starting at 6 PM (JST) 🌍 Who: Students graduating by June 2026 💻 Where: Online Don’t miss this amazing opportunity to learn more about the internship, network with professionals, and discover what working in Japan is like! 🇯🇵 📌 Register here: https://lnkd.in/eer_q23n #mercari #newgrads #softwareengineering #opendoor #networkingevent