Society

Rakuten and Walmart take aim at Amazon, with alliance for groceries and e-books in Japan and U.S.

Jan 27 (Japan Times) - E-commerce giant Rakuten and retail behemoth Walmart are taking aim at Amazon in a partnership that will see the two companies launch an online grocery delivery service in Japan while offering e-readers, e-books and audiobooks to American Walmart customers.

The move, announced Friday, will see Rakuten Inc. team up with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. subsidiary and supermarket chain Seiyu GK. The joint venture will replace and expand Walmartâ€™s existing grocery delivery service with an operation called Rakuten Seiyu Netsuper. The service, with a planned launch in the latter half of this year, will allow customers to place orders on Rakutenâ€™s online marketplace. The venture will open a warehouse to handle orders in addition to using existing Seiyu stores.

The collaboration will also allow Walmart to take direct aim at Amazon.com Inc.â€™s Kindle by bringing Rakuten-owned Koboâ€™s e-reader to its U.S. stores, along with a catalog of nearly 6 million e-book and audiobook titles to Walmart.com customers.

â€œI believe this will be a globally unprecedented, powerful alliance,â€ Rakutenâ€™s billionaire founder and Chief Executive Officer Hiroshi Mikitani said at the companyâ€™s Tokyo headquarters, accompanied by Walmart CEO Doug McMillon.

Amazonâ€™s Japan unit launched a fresh food delivery service last year â€” its third country after the U.S. and Britain â€” offering over 100,000 food items to its â€œAmazon Primeâ€ members in some areas in Tokyo.

Walmart has also been stepping up its efforts in the online shopping marketplace. In the U.S., it teamed up with Alphabet Inc.â€™s Google last year to let shoppers order by voice via Google Home smart speakers, while working with ride-hailing firms like Uber Technologies Inc. to test grocery delivery services in some cities.

â€œRakuten and Seiyuâ€™s strong name recognition could be an advantage in Japan,â€ said Hitoshi Sato, a senior analyst at InfoCom Research. He said various online grocery delivery services are already offered in the nation, and that Rakuten and Seiyuâ€™s entry could accelerate the trend of buying food online.

Seven & i Holdings Co., Japanâ€™s largest operator of convenience stores, for example, announced a partnership last year with Askul Corp. to start a fresh food delivery service.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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