Ecommerce zenith in Japan

Japanese economic sector stalled, the population decrease and the retail sector fell by about 1% per year for many years. But there is a very strong growing field: e-commerce.

E-commerce revenue in Japan has steadily increased approximately 17% from 2005 to date, and is expected to increase by 10% in the next 5 years. Another benefit most companies in the development trend of e-commerce in Japan, Rakuten.

Rakuten has pursued a strategy of building a shopping center online, providing all the services that allow the retailer set up shop on their website for advertising, sales and processing of payment transactions . Rakuten's model simplifies the purchase and sale between sellers and buyers. Japan has about 90 million Internet users in some 130 million people, of which about two thirds of Internet users in the country to use Rakuten.

Online retailers despite rapid growth but still too small in Japan with approximately $ 30 billion in revenue each year (including downloading digital content business) but Rakuten has handled nearly 1/3 of total retail transactions online at sunrise this country. Currently, the company is planning to expand into foreign markets.

Although Japan is the technological leader in many fields, but e-commerce went pretty far behind the West. The Japanese seem to prefer shopping in person at the store more, probably because they tend to surf the mobile web using products not suitable for online shopping as computers (with larger screen). But the economic downturn in recent years has led the Japanese people travel less and spend more time using computers at home, which makes e-commerce boom. E-Commerce in Japan is also supported by the shipping service cheap, high quality shipping usually around the country in one day.

However, Ratuken is facing a major challenge. Many retailers now want to establish their own sales websites, not just sell on e-commerce floor of Ratuken again. This makes Ratuken to change strategy. Along with the development of e-commerce floor general for other retail companies, Ratuken expected will also bring products to sell on the floor ecommerce company-established. This is also a trend that many ecommerce floor as eBay and Amazon have applied.

Besides, Ratuken are open to new markets. Last month, the company announced a joint venture with Global Mediacom, the largest media conglomerate in Indonesia to take Ratuken model in this market. Earlier this year, Ratuken also collaborated with the search giant Baidu to develop China's e-commerce market in China. Hiroshi Mikitani, founder and president Ratuken, hoping to bring e-commerce model of the company to 10 markets in 2010 and the future will be open to 30 markets.

Another success factor is the system of Ratuken attract loyal customers. Buyers will receive points when purchasing any goods on Ratuken system, then they can use this discount in exchange for the purchase of other goods. What makes customers prefer to buy through the website Ratuken than independent trade. The program attracts loyal customers can help Ratuken compete in other markets, George Hogan, consultant at investment bank Macquarie trust.

But the successes that have been Ratuken in the Japanese market may not be easy in other markets by the cultural differences as well as infrastructure. Moreover, the joint venture overseas, Ratuken facing strong competition from local rivals. For example, in the Chinese market, Yahoo Japan has partnered with Taobao, floor retail e-commerce, China's largest. However, Ratuken is a strategic effort in opening markets abroad. The company is making strategic use of English as the main language of communication in the workplace, a rare thing in the culture of Japanese companies.

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