Carrefour joins forces with Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten

Carrefour is opening a shop on Rakuten‘s French e-commerce platform. The Japanese marketplace is quickly gaining popularity in France, courtesy of a special cashback system.

New “anti-inflation weapon”

In April, Carrefour will open a virtual shop on Rakuten’s French marketplace, which already accounts for fifteen million visitors a month. Carrefour’s product range on the marketplace will consist of non-food products, such as electronics and household appliances.

Particularly notable is Rakuten’s loyalty programme “Club R”, which allows customers to earn money with their online purchases. Instead of discounts, members enjoy a cashback system, which allows them to get between 5 % and 35 % of the purchase value back. Club R already has twelve million members in France and is a good “anti-inflation weapon”, according to Carrefour.

Taking advantage of traffic

For Carrefour, Rakuten’s affiliate programme is also very interesting, as are its online services. Rakuten has its own fulfilment network, but also helps partners with payment solutions and artificial intelligence, among other things. “By teaming up, both partners are seeking to locate new digital growth levers in the long term, the ultimate aim being to increase their market share”, the retailer explains.

“This new completely virtual store that we are opening on the Rakuten platform will help bolster our position as a major player on the omni-channel segment. As is the case in the bricks-and-mortar world in which we open stores in shopping arcades, we will be able to take advantage of Rakuten’s website and its traffic as a way of raising our profile in the minds of customers”, says Carrefour’s e-commerce director Elodie Perthuisot.