By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry

Lekutian: Rakuten And Baidu’s Online Mall In China

L

Rakuten has finally launched its online mall in China. After having inked a partnership with Google’s China, Baidu, “Lekutian” went live online in China today:

Rakuten, Japan’s biggest e-commerce company ($10 billion market cap), and Chinese search leader Baidu have today opened a new online shopping mall in China. Dubbed Lekutian (“Happy Cool Day” in Chinese), the launch of the site was announced back in January. Both web powerhouses will invest US$50 million over the next three years in their joint venture.

Under the deal, Rakuten holds 51% of Lekutian, with Baidu owning the rest. Much like Rakuten’s Ichiba market place in Japan (see here for our extensive case study on Rakuten), Lekutian is a B2B2C platform. Chinese merchants can set up an online shop in the online mall to sell directly to end consumers or source products from suppliers.

– read the rest in my article on TechCrunch:

Lekutian: Rakuten and Baidu Open Online Mall In China

About the author

Dr. Serkan Toto

I am the CEO & Founder of Kantan Games Inc., an independent consultancy focused on Japan’s game industry.

Please feel free to connect via Email (Serkan at kantangames.com), LinkedIn or Twitter.

Please subscribe to updates on this site via Email.

By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry