E-commerce giants such as Amazon Marketplace and Rakuten Online Marketplace in Japan are globally recognized and can serve as platforms for identifying your business needs.
If you are interested in expanding your retail business into other markets, selling your products on a well-positioned e-commerce platform is always a wise move. This is especially true if your brand does not have much awareness in this uncharted territory.
Rakuten, Inc. is Japan’s largest B2B2C (business-to-consumer) e-commerce site. Given its strong presence, it is often referred to as the “Amazon of Japan” and has taken its place among the world’s largest in terms of sales volume. This platform was founded in 1997 by Hiroshi Mikitani with the aim of expanding the opportunities for local businesses by connecting them with customers in Japan. In 2005, Rakuten began expanding its services worldwide through additional acquisitions and partnerships, such as Buy.com, which was purchased by the Japanese giant to expand its operations in the US.
Why sell on Rakuten Japan?
Let’s start with the fact that Japan has a very large and healthy e-commerce market that generates billions of dollars in sales. As of June 2019, Rakuten reported annual sales of $31.7 billion, while Amazon Japan reported a total of $25.42 billion. Rakuten’s customer base currently stands at nearly 1.3 billion members, and the types of services offered by this platform include online banking and travel booking, as well as video streaming and, more recently, online movie ticket booking. Rakuten has even expanded by investing in Pinterest and purchasing Viber.
Setting up your Rakuten Online account
Set up Rakuten Online
Before you can access Rakuten Ichiba, you need to set up a local Japanese business and bank account. (Companies based in the US must meet a number of requirements.)
Sellers can use Rakuten’s affiliate network to help create a store for their brand.
These partners act as intermediaries with whom both parties have entered into an agreement to create and even manage the store.
Rakuten also provides you with a team of e-commerce consultants who will advise you on personal account management and sales strategies to help you grow your business on the channel.
Advantages of selling on the Rakuten online marketplace
Here are a few more reasons to consider opening a store on Rakuten Ichiba:
Rakuten Super Points® is a generous incentive program that attracts and retains many customers. The rewards system is a channel through which Rakuten reinvests commissions by offering customers points that they can use for future purchases.
There are two types of Rakuten Super Points:
- Standard points. These are earned through regular purchases that are not part of Rakuten Super Points® (no maximum is awarded for each purchase).
- Limited points. Limited-time opportunities to earn more points.
Rakuten Ichiba is the largest online marketplace in Japan, which is arguably the most highly developed e-commerce marketplace in Asia – and one of the most successful in the world.
Japanese consumers are highly educated and have high expectations. Demand for high-quality products is high, especially those that are not available in Japan at affordable prices.