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© 2012 AFPRakuten to shut China online shopping mall
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wtfjapan
oh dear, with all the acquisitions of foreign e-commerce companies and there grand ideas of one day taking on Amazon & Ebay thought theyd be more prepared to slog it out with the international rivals even with the “intensified competition”
sorry Rakuten dont really stand a chance against giants like Amazon/Ebay not until your brand becomes more widely known & you let your new members sell buy commission free. (not going to happen)
ben4short
wtfjapan, totally agree. Rakuten is a total rip-off that has thrived in Japan only because this is the Land of Rip-offs and nobody complains. Despite his calls for the in-house use of English, his Harvard MBA, and all the other trimmings, Mikitani is proving once again his poor judgment and provincial way of thinking.
nath
stupid move to start with! Baidu has an online auction site of their own and would not for one instance allow Rakuten to take any of their market share in the Asian market. On the other hand if Rakuten and Baidu had teamed up to go after Amazon or eBay in the US or Europe the story would have had a very different ending.
GW
no information in this blurb
herefornow
ben4short -- spot on. And please add no real competition and therefore ridiculous pricing to your description. Rakutan was simply not nimble enough to adapt to a fiercely competitive environment, since they had not learned those skills in Japan where true cut-throat competition does not exist.
garomakaikishi
another japanese company fails in china
naruhodo1
But for once they had the senses to know quickly when to quit. Unlike most businesses in Japan who after years in the red, I mean yeeeaaars, have the balls to ask for tax money, to bail them out. No, I would say his Harvard came into play, quit on cue, and just because consumers are dumb and willing to pay in Japan, doesn't mean the company is to blame. companies make bad investments all the time. Knowing when to cut your losses...and learn from them.