11 options for Japanese online shopping that aren’t Rakuten or Yahoo

Online shopping in Japan is big. The domestic B2C market grew 17 percent in 2013 to hit around US$112 billion, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry.

Major players, like Rakuten and Yahoo, are well known and rightfully so. But there are plenty of Japanese online stores to choose from. Take a look below and see some of the shops that have been rising in popularity lately.

The companies are listed randomly, with no ranking applied.

Origami

Origami is a self-styled completely new mobile ecommerce platform that seeks to improve on traditional online shopping in Japan. Users can follow brands and receive notifications when new items are made available.

Users can also share their shopping journey via check-ins and purchases at a store’s real or virtual location. Origami claims that these check-in’s are a critical part of its business model since they act as advertisements for the brands.

Origami announced a US$5 million funding round in April 2013, led by KDDI and the Digital Advertising Consortium. The company also earned honors as an “App Store Best of 2013.”

Gadget offerings from Origami.

Sumally

Sumally is an ecommerce social network where users can curate lists of items they want, own, or want to sell. Similar to Pinterest, you can see what items other users have or want and can develop your shopping list from that. All your preferences can be shared via Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest.

As of April 2014, there were 400,000 registered users and 1.35 million items listed.

The items featured may reflect the author’s interests.

iQon

iQon, from Vasily, is an app that lets users figure out what they should wear. People can play around with outfit combinations and buy what they like.

Muse & Co

Locondo

Mercari

Monoco

Oh My Glasses

Zozotown

Fril

AucFan