Mercari recently made headlines by deciding to shift fees from sellers to buyers. On August 1st, it made another significant change, announcing it was making Japanese inventory available to US online shoppers and opening a retail store in Los Angeles. Read more
eBay will give US shoppers the ability to purchase items listed by Japanese sellers through an agreement with Rakuten’s Rakuma marketplace app. The companies will test the program by listing products on eBay.com primarily in the fashion category. eBay and Read more
Rakuten is closing its marketplace, according to TechCrunch, and will wind down its operations over the next two months. The Japanese marketplace had acquired Buy.com in 2010 for $250 million and later rebranded it. Rakuten had gone on an international Read more
Walmart launched a new offering for shoppers – you can now purchase ebooks on its site thanks to a new partnership with Kobo. In addition to selling individual titles, Walmart is selling an audiobook subscription plan for $9.99/month. The phrase Read more
As the popularity of in-store and curbside pickup is growing, ecommerce giant Rakuten announced it is acquiring Curbside, a service that helps stores and restaurants offer customers “order ahead” service and uses something called “predictive arrival technology” to set itself Read more
The saying, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” applies to a new ecommerce alliance announced today between Rakuten and Walmart as they feel the heat from Amazon’s continuing growth. Rakuten went up against Amazon and eBay after it Read more
Rakuten has acquired Fablic, which operates Japanese marketplace app FRIL. Rakuten calls it a flea market app, but based on a recent profile of the company, it sounds like a Poshmark-Etsy mashup. TechInAsia.com described FRIL as a consumer-to-consumer marketplace for used Read more
Rakuten is closing its marketplaces in the UK and Spain in a major restructuring move in Europe. The company said it would focus on France and Germany, where its businesses have the scale and potential for sustainable growth. The announcement Read more
Marketplace giants eBay and Rakuten are partnering in what the two rivals hope will be a mutually beneficial arrangement. Under the agreement, eBay Korea’s Gmarket will launch a flagship store on Rakuten Ichiba – its Japanese platform – featuring boutique Read more
Two ecommerce powerhouses are making some noteworthy moves – one is contracting in Asia while the other takes a stake in a US daily deals site. Rakuten Retrenches Ecommerce giant Rakuten which got its start in Japan has announced plans Read more
