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Magazines Archives - 2009 November Rakuten continues overseas expansion Japanese online shopping group, Rakuten Inc, revealed in August in an interview with local media that it plans to expand in overseas markets, said its president and CEO, Hiroshi Mikitani. “Given that Internet outlets generally offer lower prices than their brickand- mortar counterparts, they are less vulnerable to economic volatility. The number of vendors and the total value of sales on our websites have been rising, indicating that consumer behaviour is changing,” Mikitani said, adding that Rakuten’s operations in Taiwan, which started in 2008 as the first foreign operations for the online mall, is also growing at an increasing pace, he added. “The market is only about one-fourth the size of Japan’s, and there is a lot of room for expansion. The group is also looking to expand in Asia, “then into the US”, said Mikitani.
“We plan to expand into 27 foreign markets. The development of a multiplelanguage system for Internet shopping was completed in September, and that enabled us to go into a new market in only a few months after deciding to do so, making us fully prepared for our global push. One idea is to make items Mikitani maintained. The retail chief added that China and India also ranks high on the expansion list, and the group is currently conducting market research. In the first six months till June this year, the company said its consolidated operating income soared by 28% from the same period last year, to ¥23.4 billion (US$256 million). The group’s net sales for its e-commerce sector grew 21% compared with last year and Mikitani projected that the group will achieve a To view other stories, get a copy of Retail Asia. To subscribe, please download the subscription form from http://www.retailasiaonline.com/subscription.html
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