E-tail giant Rakuten sells 15% more in first quarter

‘Super sales’ and improved logistics

The management says it worked on strengthening
sales through smartphones and tablets, on promotions using the ‘Rakuten Super
Sales’ and on the improvement of deliveries, all in that first quarter.

On its home market Rakuten profited from the expansive policy of the central bank of Japan to increase consumption. Online trade
also is getting more established, which produces more unique buyers. Those
factors combined lead to a rise in sales of 14.5 percent.

Sights on abroad

Meanwhile Rakuten keeps on investing in further
expansion, especially abroad. At the moment only a fraction of sales are made
outside of Japan, but the company wants to increase that number to no less than
70%. Takeovers will be involved to increase sales abroad.

Today the company owns a German online shop,
while delivery in the Benelux is also possible via the international website
Rakuten.com. To increase sales on existing sites, Rakuten uses points
programmes that have proven their success in Japan.

Internet trade is only one of the divisions of
Rakuten. The other division focus on online banking, online telephony and even
managing a baseball team.