Having Closed a Door in China, Rakuten Opens Online Shopping Mall in Brazil

It was just last week that we saw Rakuten (JSD:4755) and Baidu pull the plug on their Lekutian e-commerce venture in China, citing “intensified competition” in the sector as the main reason. But today, Rakuten is back on the proverbial horse, opening an online shopping mall in another very big market, Brazil.

The new shopping mall can be accessed at Rakuten.com.br, and so far offers consumers in the country a wide range of products from Brazilian retailers, such as electronics, books, clothing, etc.

Currently there are about 79 million internet users in Brazil, which accounts for about 39 percent of its overall population of 203 million [1]. So there’s still lots of room for internet businesses to grow there, as more and more people gradually come online.

The company says that it aims to be Brazil’s number one online shopping mall. Rakuten will also provide its customers with access to its global e-commerce network, including Rakuten sites in other regions, including Japan. Rakuten’s CEO Hiroshi Mikitani added:

We aim to enrich the lives of the Brazilian people by providing fun, engaging and convenient shopping experiences through our online shopping mall. Rakuten will contribute to the growth of e-commerce in Brazil by empowering merchants and consumers through the power of the Internet.

Last summer when Rakuten acquired Brazilian e-commerce site Ikeda, the company noted that e-commerce in that country was forecasted to grow 18 percent each year. Just a few months later in September, Ikeda changed its name to Rakuten Brazil, and launched a beta version of Rakuten Shopping soon after in November.

In addition to the new shopping mall, Rakuten Brasil will also offer Rakuten EC Service, a continuation of Ikeda’s previous SaaS service.