Will take rate improvement advance before GMV recovers?

In the first quarter of FY2027 ending February 2027, marketplace GMV was ¥3,800 million, or 97.2% of the year-earlier level, meaning transaction volume was below the previous year. Revenue, however, increased to ¥432 million, or 111.1% year on year. The company attributes the revenue increase to a higher take rate resulting from various priority initiatives. At this point, revenue generated from the same transaction volume is increasing ahead of GMV expansion.

In FY2026 ending February 2026, marketplace revenue was ¥1,455 million, or 98% year on year, while annual GMV was ¥14.8 billion, or 96% year on year. The disclosed take rate was 14.6%, and the average transaction value was ¥6,186. Whether take rate improvement can offset the continuing weakness in GMV is important in assessing the FY2027 ending February 2027 re-growth plan.

The FY2027 ending February 2027 marketplace revenue plan is ¥1,748.181 million, representing 120% of the previous year on a comparison including the revenue-classification change and 112% on a like-for-like basis after reclassification. Simply dividing the full-year plan by two gives ¥874 million as a benchmark, but seasonality has not been disclosed, so this is not the company's half-year target. At the next results announcement, cumulative revenue should be assessed together with whether GMV has exceeded 100% of the year-earlier level.

The first-quarter materials show GMV, revenue and average transaction value, but do not disclose the amounts attributable to individual drivers of take rate improvement or the breakdown of traffic, purchasers and purchase frequency. Next time, the key to testing the sustainability of monetisation improvement will be whether the company can explain separately the recovery in GMV, average transaction value, take rate and the impact of the revenue-classification change.