Global success story of a virtual shopping mall
Rakuten Ichiba started out as a small-scale virtual marketplace that offered businesses an online platform to sell their products on. With the addition of an auction service to its core platform, the Rakuten brand was introduced to the consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce market through the Rakuma service. Subsequent acquisitions and joint ventures added extensions to the core brand, like the internet bank Rakuten Card and the online food retailer Rakuten Seiyu Netsuper, as the strategy revolved around building up an ecosystem resembling a virtual shopping mall.To connect the horizontally expanding business portfolio and the respective user bases to its core business, cross-platform features like the Rakuten ID were implemented as fundamental solutions for consumers to enjoy the company’s services with a single registration. Marketing campaigns and a reward point system are promoted as further incentives to bind consumers to the Rakuten ecosystem, contributing to the success of Rakuten Group as an all-round service provider.