Here’s more proof that Rakuten is serious about becoming a global ecommerce player alongside the likes of Amazon and Alibaba: the Japanese company today launched Rakuten.co.uk. According to TechCrunch, the new UK marketplace will sell goods from Rakuten and third-party retailers, in addition to offerings from its Kobo ebook store and Wuaki video streaming service.
The latest move follows previous expansion in Europe and the UK by way of an R&D operation in Paris and the acquisitions of PriceMinister (France), Tradoria (Germany), Wuaki (Spain), and Play.com (UK) – though the latter is set to be scaled back following the closure of its retail operations last year.
Rakuten UK will reportedly also offer food and drink, pointing to the possibility of an Amazon Fresh-esque grocery delivery service. Merchants on Alibaba’s Tmall and Taobao marketplaces in China already offer similar services.
Rakuten’s market cap of approximately US$14.9 billion pales in comparison to Amazon and Alibaba – worth US$141.5 and US$221.8 billion, respectively.
We’ve reached out to Rakuten and will update this post if they reply.
See: Rakuten has a long list of acquisition casualties, but Viki is bucking the trend
(Source: TechCrunch)
Editing by Steven Millward
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