Yahoo Japan Shopping Releases First Safety Report, Fraud Losses Down 70%

Tokyo, Japan - LY Corp's (TYO: 4689) Yahoo Japan Shopping platform released its first "Safety and Security Initiatives Report" for the first half of 2024, detailing efforts to combat fraud and ensure marketplace integrity.

Key points:

• Fraudulent payment losses decreased by approximately 70% in H1 2024 compared to H1 2023
• About 600,000 fake reviews were deleted by September 2024
• The new store approval rate dropped to 11.2% in H1 2024, down 14 percentage points from 25.2% in H1 2023
• Suspended stores fell 50% to 253 in H1 2024 from 506 in H1 2023
• Terminated stores decreased 41% to 684 in H1 2024 from 1,159 in H1 2023
• Brand approval rate declined to 74.3% in H1 2024, down 14.7 percentage points from 89% in H1 2023
• Unapproved brand product removals increased 31% to 2,292 in H1 2024 from 1,750 in H1 2023

The report comes as Japan's B2C e-commerce market grew to JYP 13.9997 trillion in 2023, up JPY 713.2 billion from 2022, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Yahoo Japan Shopping implemented stricter vetting processes, including inventory verification and banning mobile phone and free email registrations for new stores. 

The platform also introduced eKYC for seller verification and enhanced patrol systems to identify suspicious stores.

LINE Yahoo Corp plans to strengthen measures against fake reviews further, expand AI use in patrols, and increase penalties for stores with repeated complaints.