Exciting Commerce is following the development of Rakuten more intensively than ever. Not only because of their lofty goals, but also due to their innovative approach to e-commerce.
Clearly observable with Buy.com in the US market is how Rakuten is bringing the personalities of individual merchants into the foreground. This is presumably to distance themselves from product based shopping portals such as Amazon and eBay. The motto: “Buy from people, not the internet”.
Rakuten has been very active: After the investment in Ahalife in April and the $100 million with Pinterest in May, Rakuten then acquired the Spanish video streaming service Wuaki.tv:
“Video on demand extends our digital goods offering. We believe the opportunity for video on demand services across Europe, as well as further afield, to still be in its infancy – particularly when looking at media consumption via mobile connected devices and eReaders.”
It is worthwhile to see the webcast on the quarterly results from the beginning of May along with the current corporate presentation.
At the K5 Conference, Markus Kobelt and others will represent the segment dealing with e-commerce merchant personalities.
Related posts:
- Pinterest Raises $100 Million From Investment Group Led by Rakuten
- How Rakuten Wants To Push Tradoria Ahead With Buy.com
- Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani in DLD Video Interview
- How Rakuten wants to overtake Amazon.de with Tradoria
- Rakuten’s Global Expansion Continues, Tradoria Rebranding
- Rakuten: Japanese E-commerce Giant Continues Expansion with Play.com of the UK
- Rakuten/Buy.com Using Tradoria To Spearhead Into Germany
Originally posted in German by Jochen Krisch, adapted for excitingcommerce.com by Jason Soo.
Totally makes sense. eCommerce can be very impersonal and thus makes the value proposition questionable. Better is to provide people upfront and that provides a better connection so buyers understand value and gain trust. Conversion will be lower when those two elements fall away.
Posted by: Ed Klopfenstein | 07/12/2012 at 05:43 PM
I couldn't agree more with what this post is trying to convey. My employer is a web host, so we here at eLief are always trying to support smaller eCommerce. It creates a symbiotic relationship between buyer, and seller that is unmatched anywhere else.
Posted by: Magento Hosting | 07/29/2012 at 08:11 PM
It took e-commerce a decade to open our eyes. But now social, mobile, nfc, web currency and many more aspects are game changing in a way commerce has not experienced it before.
Posted by: email list for sale | 09/09/2012 at 01:12 PM