Rakuten are growing globally by acquisition and investment, Mitch, which in the US includes Buy.com, AhaLife, and their investment in Pinterest. I would expect to see their name cropping up over or under familiar e-commerce logos as they try and build share, but I wouldn't expect either Rakuten or Amazon to be knocked off the number one spot on their home territories. And I agree the competition will be good for everyone.
Aliexpress.com and taobao.com I don't know a lot about but they don't appear to have the same sort of ambitions as Rakuten and are happy to be portals for the export of Chinese goods.
@nimantha.de, I really like your point. A little competition never hurts. It keeps all parties on their toes and keeps the wheels of innovation turning. Consumers will ultimately benefit from the push forward for marketshare.
KMT568 - Brand loyalty moves pretty quickly, particularly on the Internet. How many bad experiences would a consumer need to have with Amazon before they just decided to move on?
Like you Mitch, I never heard of this retailer. I think brand loyalty will keep Amazon the preferred e-retailer for quite some time. I am a frequent Amazon customer and have been happy. I don't plan to make any changes. And if Amazon were to shut down, I would definitely be disappointed.
This battle was on for some time isnt it ?? There were so many competitors for this but now it has gone down to the very last drop. Good to see it because this will make room for innovation
Must agree that Rakuten has a ways to go before becoming a household name, at least in this country. And most of the homes I've been in for the past few years have at least one smiling box peeking out of a cupboard somewhere. Bushido and bravado don't always make for a better online shopping experience. Of course, I'm not Japanese, either. Perhaps there is a cultural difference that would help me better understand the way Rakuten markets and fulfills. Either way, it should be fun to watch!
The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
Recently, the Obama administration has been of two minds where privacy rights are concerned. On one hand, you have an administration that vowed to veto CISPA and mandated open data for government websites. On the other hand, you have an increasingly out-of-control Department of Justice on a fishing expedition at AP and demanding legislation to let the FBI wiretap private, encrypted communications and levy fines if a company fails to comply.
The apartment and house sharing service, Airbnb, now requires members to verify their identities by demonstrating a presence on the web, and by either scanning a government ID or entering detailed personal details. Other enterprises should take a close look at Airbnb's verification policies.
Facebook advertising is a lightning rod. It seems neither brands nor consumers are 100 percent happy about the social media site's policies, placement, or procedures. But the real controversy about Facebook ads and promotions is over whether they work.
By now, you've most likely heard about the 3D-printed gun that Texas-based Defense Distributed demonstrated last week. But we haven't heard the last about the censorship war that began soon afterward.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Subsidized handsets, rather than locked handsets, should be the focus of regulators. We're not getting good deals, not fostering innovation, and weakening our power as buyers.
Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
your weekly update of news, analysis, and
opinion from Internet Evolution - FREE! REGISTER HERE
Wanted! Site Moderators Internet Evolution is looking for a handful of readers to help moderate the message boards on our site – as well as engaging in high-IQ conversation with the industry mavens on our thinkerNet blogosphere. The job comes with various perks, bags of kudos, and GIANT bragging rights. Interested?
To save this item to your list of favorite Internet Evolution content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
