Rakuten operates Rakuten Ichiba, Japan’s major online shopping marketplace.
Rakuten Ichiba launched in 1997 as an online marketplace connecting independent merchants with consumers. Rakuten’s business model differed from a conventional inventory-owning retailer because many merchants managed their own products and storefronts while using Rakuten’s platform, customer traffic, and services.
The marketplace became the foundation of Rakuten’s broader ecosystem, which includes financial services, travel, communications, digital content, and loyalty programs. Rakuten Super Points, later associated with the company’s loyalty strategy, encouraged customers to use several Rakuten services.
Rakuten is sometimes confused with Yahoo! Japan Shopping or Mercari, both of which are separate Japanese online commerce services. The corporate group has also expanded internationally through acquisitions and investments, but Rakuten Ichiba remains its flagship Japanese marketplace.