EcommerceBytes-NewsFlash, Number 2598 - August 01, 2011 
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Rakuten Continues Global Expansion Spree with Investment in Tradoria
By Ina Steiner
Japanese firm Rakuten closed a transaction to acquire an 80% stake in Tradoria, a leading ecommerce platform in Germany. It did not disclose the investment amount. Rakuten is on a global expansion spree with operations throughout Asia, Western Europe, and the Americas. It acquired Buy.com last year for approximately $250 million, and acquired a 75% stake in Brazilian site Ikeda last month.
Tradoria was founded in 2007 and offers small and medium-sized online merchants a web store, marketplace and checkout in a single product. Tradoria charges a monthly subscription fees and transaction fees and currently hosts 4,400 shops offering 8 million products across a broad range of categories.
Rakuten founder and CEO Hiroshi Mikitani said in a press statement, "Our distinctive B2B2C business model represents a fresh approach to the future of global e-commerce and we are excited to join with like-minded companies. Together, we will help each other grow in Europe and continue to open new markets worldwide to our merchants."
The acquisition comes one year after Rakuten took its first step into continental Europe with the acquisition of PriceMinister in France, and the company said it plans to continue expansion across Europe.
About the author:
Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com.
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