The joint venture plans to begin operation sometime in 2011 with an aim to be the number one internet shopping mall in the country. It plans to initially offer domestic products from local vendors before expanding to include stores from its global network and eventually becoming one large worldwide operation.
The website serves as a teaser for the public as well as an open invitation for any merchant who may be interested in opening an online store in the near future. Rakuten expects a rapid increase in Indonesian online usage citing figures from BCG Report which shows an increase from 33 million in 2009 to 100 million in 2015.
This marks another step in a hasty internationalization of the Japanese company after acquiring Buy.com in the US, signing a deal to operate in China with Baidu, and enforcing English as the company’s official internal language, all in one year.
According to Asiajin, the deal between the two giants is worth US $4.3 million with Rakuten holding a controlling stake at 51%. Rakuten’s online shopping mall has 64 million customers in Japan alone from 35,000 merchants.
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