Three takeovers within a short time frame (Tradoria, Play.com and Kobo), puts the Japanese online concern Rakuten in the same league as Naspers – both are amongst the most actively expanding e-commerce players at the international level.
At the end of July, Rakuten planted its first stake in the German market with the acquisition of Tradoria. By now the Rakuten world looks as follows (PDF):
Rakuten is primarily represented in the USA via Buy.com and in Europe (France) via Priceminister.
With the takeover of the Canadian eBook provider Kobo at the beginning of November for $315 million (USD), Rakuten is stepping into a completely new business area (press release, PDF).
Rebranding activities
According to our latest tip, Rakuten will apparently rebrand the German Tradoria company to the Rakuten name. With that move it will officialize Tradoria’s role as the German leg of the Japanese e-commerce giant.
Until now, the Rakuten logo has been sneaking into Tradoria’s homepage.
Rakuten translates from Japanese as “easy life”, optimism.
Related posts:
- Rakuten: Japanese E-commerce Giant Continues Expansion with Play.com of the UK
- Rakuten/Buy.com Using Tradoria To Spearhead Into Germany
- Rakuten On Their Expansion Plans with Buy.com and Priceminister
- Buy.com Goes for $250 Million to Rakuten
Originally posted in German by Jochen Krisch as two posts (1, 2), adapted for excitingcommerce.com by Jason Soo.
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