Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket

ShopBack expands to South Korea with Ebates Korea buy

ShopBack announced that it has acquired online cashback platform Ebates Korea, marking its expansion into South Korea.  

Starting today, Rakuten’s Ebates Korea will cease operations and its users will be directed to the ShopBack Korea beta platform, which will be officially launched by mid-2020, according to a statement.

ShopBack said that shoppers could earn up to 15% cashback on their purchases via the ShopBack Korea platform across categories like fashion, beauty, and electronics.

Following the acquisition, ShopBack expects to serve over 500,000 customers in South Korea this year. It will also attract more merchants, including local ones such as ecommerce platform Gmarket, social commerce platform Wemakeprice, and online mall 11Street.

According to Statista, South Korea is one of the biggest ecommerce markets worldwide, where the retail ecommerce will grow to nearly US$32.6 billion by 2021, up from US$19.1 billion in 2016.

https://www.techinasia.com/shopback-expands-korea-ebates-buy
 

Ebates Korea war bisher Teil von Rakuten Rewards (siehe area served, auch der dort angeführte China-Ableger wurde bereits verkauft)

Rakuten Rewards

Type
subsidiary  

  Industry§Cashback website, Coupons, Mobile applications, Browser extension

   Founded§May 3, 1998 in Menlo Park, CA, United States
  Founders§Alessandro Isolani and Paul Wasserman
Headquarters§San Mateo, California

Area served United States, Canada, China, South Korea, Singapore, Japan

Key people Amit Patel (CEO)
Number of employees 760 (Worldwide, 2019)
Parent
Rakuten

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakuten_Rewards
 

US Companies Airspan and Altiostar Announce Partnership to Commercialize 4G & 5G Open Virtualized RAN Network Solutions

BOCA RATON, Florida, March 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Airspan Networks and Altiostar Networks announced today a partnership for accelerating the commercialization of Open RAN 4G and 5G platforms. This partnership will combine the proven expertise of Airspan to deploy compact and intelligent form factors for radio solutions at scale with Altiostar's proven expertise next generation virtualized RAN (vRAN) solutions.

The partnership is born out of real-world field experience and successful integration of thousands of sites in the world's first commercial Open cloud-scale web-based virtualized RAN network in Japan. Together the companies will enable network operators all over the world to take advantage of fully virtualized cloud native network architectures utilizing Altiostar's Open vRAN solution with Airspan's OpenRANGE platform. Open RAN architectures completely change the status quo for mobile network economics by reducing CapEx and OpEx costs up to 40%, according to a 2019 study conducted by Strategy Analytics.

https://web.tmxmoney.com/...id=6969667591421908&qm_symbol=AIRO:US  

Town Hall Meeting: What is Rakuten Takeout?

Town Hall Meeting Featuring Rakuten

http://sanmateochamber.chambermaster.com/events/...kuten-takeout-8911
 

April 28, 2020
Financial Reports
For the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 Rakuten Securities, Inc. Rakuten Securities, Inc. (President: Yuji Kusunoki. Head Office: Setagaya-ku,Tokyo) consolidated financial reports for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 (J-GAAP).

Results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 First quarter ended March 31, 2019
Consolidated Operating Results* (Millions of yen, rounded down)

Operating revenue 17,262 14,386

Net operating revenue 16,737 14,386

Operating income 3,893 3,336

Ordinary income 3,884…3,073

Net income 2,680…1,909

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2020/...category=corp%20ir  

Über 1.4 Milliarden
registrierte Kunden

Aktiv in über
190 Ländern

175 Mrd. Dollar
Transaktionsvolumen

19.000 Mitarbeiter
Weltweit

https://infos.rakuten.de/ueber-rakuten
 

Rakuten Securities Reports Positive Financial Results for Q1 2020

Rakuten Securities yielded an operating revenue of ¥17.6 billion ($161 million) during the Q1 2020.

Rakuten Securities Inc, one of the largest foreign exchange brokers in Japan, ‎has reported its financial results for the fiscal first quarter ending March 31, 2020, which were characterised by upbeat revenues and profits, according ‎to a Rakuten statement. ‎

Rakuten Securities yielded an operating revenue of ¥17.6 billion ($161 million) during the Q1 2020, a gain of 20 percent from ¥14.3 billion in the year earlier. ‎

The same narrative was noted across the profit attributable to owners of the parent company (net income), with the figure coming ‎in at ¥3.9 billion ($36.4 million) which is higher by 16.7 percent compared to its 2019 equivalent. ‎

In terms of overall assets, the Tokyo-headquartered brokerage currently holds ¥1.87 trillion ($17.5 billion), virtually unchanged from which it was at the end of the previous fiscal year. ‎

Rakuten Securities is one of the largest Japanese FX brokers, and operates regional businesses including in Hong Kong, following an acquisition of one of FXCM’s prior businesses five years ago.
Rakuten Securities, which also operates retail foreign exchange brands in Australia and Malaysia via a joint venture with Kenanga Investment Bank Berha, is part of E-commerce giant Rakuten.

Rakuten.com runs the fourth largest e-commerce business, trailing ‎only behind Alibaba, eBay and Amazon.

https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/brokers/...results-for-q1-2020/
 

Viber adds a privacy boost – bringing disappearing messages to regular chats

29 Apr, 2020

Rakuten Viber, one of the world’s leading apps for free and easy communication, announces the upcoming launch of the “disappearing messages” feature to all chats. Previously a feature only available in secret chats, soon, any user will be able to set a timer for sending text, photo, video or other types of files for a few seconds, minutes, hours or even days. An automatic countdown to the deletion of the content will be started immediately after the recipient sees the sent message. The impact of disappearing messages in any 1×1 chats strengthens Viber’s position as the world’s most secure messaging app.

To create a disappearing message, a user needs to:

         -§Tap the clock icon on the bottom of the chat and select the disappearance period for the message.

         -§Type and send a message to the recipient.

Viber has proven its commitment to privacy over the years. In a series of firsts in the messaging app space, Viber released a “delete message” feature for all chats in 2015, default end-to-end encryption in 2016 and hidden & secret chats in 2017. As part of its ongoing commitment to privacy, Viber is announcing the launch of disappearing messages in regular chats.

This marks another step in our journey towards being the safest messaging platform in the world,” said Ofir Eyal, COO of Viber.

https://www.businessnews.lk/blog/2020/04/29/...ages-to-regular-chats/
 

April 14, 2020
http://gernews24h.com/...ik-zu-hause-uber-viber-von-eleni-petroulaki/
 

Analysis: Amazon dominated web traffic in March
By Dan Berthiaume - 04/29/2020

Consumers turned to a familiar e-commerce site as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe.

According to data analysis from financial information site LearnBonds, Amazon had 4.06 billion visitors during March 2020. This was more than the combined 3.85 billion visitors to eBay, Apple, Walmart, Rakuten, Samsung.com, and Apple.com combined.

LearnBonds data also indicates eBay, the online retail platform with the second-highest monthly visitor total, received at least three times fewer visitors compared to Amazon at 1.2 billion. Japan’s Rakuten had 0.8 billion visitors followed by Samsung.com at 0.6 billion visitors. Walmart closed the top five categories with 0.61 billion visitors.

Apple.com occupies the sixth slot with 0.56 billion visitors, followed by China’s Aliexpress which had 0.53 billion visitors in March. Other online retail stores that received a significant number of visitors include Etsy (0.4 billion), Home Depot (0.29 billion), and Allegro.pl (0.27 billion).

In April 2020, LearnBonds expects the number of online shoppers to be high since no economies have been reopened on a large scale. As a direct consequence, brick-and-mortar retailers are losing the market as people stay away from physical stores.

https://chainstoreage.com/analysis-amazon-dominated-web-traffic-march
 

Airtel
by Bevin Fletcher | Apr 29, 2020 10:16am

India’s Bharti Airtel announced it’s deployed Altiostar’s open virtual RAN software across its 4G network in multiple major cities in India.

The announcement comes one day after the mobile operator picked Nokia for a widescale multi-year contract to enhance 4G capacity, including the deployment of about 300,000 radio units by 2022.
In terms of its work with Altiostar, Bharti Airtel is the first operator in India to deploy vRAN-based 4G network solutions, which it said is a key aspect of its network strategy. The software is 5G-ready and Altiostar said it could seamlessly transition to 5G using the same network architecture.

Altiostar, one of the U.S.-based software vendors making moves in the open RAN space, said its work with Airtel will help introduce additional cost efficiencies in the operator’s radio access network, and also set the foundation for introducing 5G services with technologies like network slicing.
Headquartered in New Delhi, Bharti Airtel has operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa, counting more than 418 million customers across its businesses at the end of 2019.

Altiostar has been working with operators all over the world on virtualized and open RAN, including Rakuten’s recent greenfield build in Japan, acting as the main software vendor for its 4G RAN. Altiostar counts Rakuten among its investors, along with Cisco, Telefonica and others.

https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/...-for-india-s-bharti-airtel
 

BY EVGENY GOKHBERG Head of Commercials
Founded in London in 2015, Everledger has quickly grown into a global digital transparency company. Evgeny Gokhberg, head of commercials, gives the back story.

In which industries does Everledger provide asset tracking software solutions?

We work closely with clients in a number of different industries where transparency is a strategic imperative, creating secure and permanent digital records of an asset’s origin, characteristics and ownership across its lifetime. Everledger helps stakeholders in diamonds, gemstones, wine and spirits, luxury goods, e-waste management and insurance to meet society’s expectations for sustainable, verifiable sourcing.

The lifetime story of a diamond, coloured gemstone or fine bottle of wine is valuable information. It’s a story that brands must increasingly be able to tell with clarity and confidence, to meet their customer’s call for responsible and verifiable sourcing.

As an independent technology company, we have the people and skills to help businesses to surface and converge asset information, using a symphony of secure technologies, including blockchain, AI and IoT. By digitally streamlining their compliance processes, we can help to share the history of an asset more efficiently and accurately. This becomes a valuable source of clarity and confidence, as well as resilience and sustainability.

How can blockchain solutions help power the circular economy?

Sustainable batteries have emerged as an exciting test case for how the circular economy might benefit the planet. By 2030, it is estimated there will be over 18 million electric vehicles (EVs). Battery technology could enable the transport and power sectors to reduce emissions by 30% by 2030, on track to meet the 2°C goal of Paris Agreement. According to the World Economic Forum, this battery revolution could also create 10 million jobs, add $150 billion to the global economy and provide electricity to 600 million people for the first time. When batteries are sourced, manufactured and recycled responsibly, they can power sustainable development.

Everledger helps clients to achieve traceability and so maximise the life cycle value of high-risk products such as portable electronics batteries, metal components and EV batteries. Our provenance-tracking solution drives transparency along clients’ supply chains of critical metals and minerals, combining blockchain technology with AI, IoT and nanotechnology to enable traceability in a secure, unalterable and private platform.

https://www.everledger.io/...the-benefits-of-asset-tracking-software/
 

Affiliate marketing is cost-effective digital advertising

An affiliate marketing study conducted by Forrester Consulting and commissioned by Rakuten Marketing shows that 80% of advertisers have reported running an affiliate program. Affiliate marketing generates a 12:1 return on ad spend (ROAS) according to a 2019 report from the Performance Marketing Association (PMA), making it one of the most cost-effective digital advertising investments.

Data from the PMA shows that spending on affiliate marketing is expected to grow from $5.94 billion in 2018 to a projected $6.8 billion in 2020. Affiliate marketing spend has been growing at a compound annual rate of around 10%. As the affiliate channel continues to grow in popularity, we expect to see the amount of money spent on it to increase, as the channel offers more tools that empower advertisers with ways to efficiently acquire and convert customers.

https://blog.rakutenadvertising.com/insights/...-affiliate-marketing/
 

Glovo, the e-logistics company that links motorcycle riders to consumers who want to buy and deliver products, has announced partnership with Naivas Supermarkets, a major supermarket chain, to provide free deliveries in the wake of the Covid-19 global pandemic.

Glovo is an app that allows people to buy, collect and send any product within the same city at a time, in under an hour. It has more than 5.5 million unique users and 16,000 associated partners. Glovo operates in 124 cities across 21 countries globally. Glovo currently employs over 1,000 people globally, with over 400 in Barcelona, Spain and over 35,000 active people make money from the platform.
Naivas was founded in 1990, originally operating as Rongai Self Service Stores before it was rebranded to Naivas in 2007. Naivas operates from 62 stores nationwide, with recent openings including Mountain View, Prestige Mall, and Lavington Curve in Nairobi, Nakuru Westside Mall, and Likoni, Mwembe Tayari and Digo Road in Mombasa.

https://aptantech.com/2020/03/...ake-deliveries-for-naivas-customers/
 

Rakuten Advertising will continue to keep you updated with strategies and insights from our network.
Commerce, Consumers & COVID-19: Vertical Commission Growth

By Rhiannon Farrar | April 29, 2020 | INSIGHTS

It’s now been over a month since the world entered lockdown. People have adapted to becoming teachers and at-home fitness gurus, and to conducting business over zoom. With these new lifestyle demands come changes to how people consume media and shop.

https://blog.rakutenadvertising.com/en-au/...tical-commission-growth/
 

Rakuten and Vodafone Invest in AST & Science’s Space Venture

Rakuten CEO Mickey Mikitani and Abel Avellan, AST & Science Chairman and CEO meet in Midland, Texas. Photo courtesy of AST.

Rakuten and Vodafone have become the lead investors in a venture to extend mobile coverage to more people and devices across the planet, using the first mobile broadband network that will be broadcast from space.

Branded SpaceMobile, the low-Earth-orbit (LEO), low-latency satellite network from AST & Science will be the first in the world to connect directly to standard smartphones. The company holds an extensive patent and IP portfolio for its ground and space technologies.

“AST & Science’s SpaceMobile venture is a perfect fit for us,” said Mickey Mikitani, chairman and CEO of Rakuten, Inc. “Our investment is part of our broader strategy to become a leading mobile network operator in Japan and a global solution provider to markets around the world. Rakuten’s strategic investment with AST & Science has the potential to support our efforts to connect users across Japan through mobile innovation, expanding national coverage from metropolitan to remote areas and bolstering the network in times of natural disaster.”

AST & Science successfully tested its SpaceMobile technology aboard the BlueWalker 1 satellite, launched in April 2019, and has been further validating the technology following that initial flight.
The new investment, announced 3 March 2020,  brings the total capital raised by AST & Science to US$128 million, including the early investments from Cisneros and founder Abel Avellan. Barclays served as financial advisor to the company.

 https://spacewatch.global/2020/03/...t-in-ast-sciences-space-venture/
 

Rakuten wins awards at the USA 2020 Drum Marketing Awards
Published 8 hours ago on May 1, 2020

SAN MATEO, California., April 30, 2020 / PRNewswire / – Rakuten, Rakuten Rewards’ main cash back portal, was this year’s big winner at Drum Marketing Awards United States 2020 in two categories: Rebrand / Relaunch and Brand Content Strategy. Rakuten has also been shortlisted by The Drum as one of the best of the year in both categories, including digital strategy.

Rakuten has been recognized as the best in Rebrand / Relaunch and Brand Content Strategy for its successful multi-year effort to rename its Ebates Cash Back portal to a new identity as Rakuten. The redesign included a complete overhaul of the company’s design standards, a redesign of the web and mobile user interfaces, a vast digital TV and video campaign, the deployment of a new digital content strategy, partnerships with sports brands high profile like the NBA Golden State Warriors, and many other marketing and branding elements.

Rakuten Rewards offering cash back, offers and rewards from over 3,500 merchants. Founded in 1999, the Rakuten Cash Back site and mobile app have become essential for 13 million members, after paying more than $ 1.5 billion in cash back to customers. Rakuten Rewards also operates ShopStyle, a leading fashion discovery destination, and Cartera Commerce, a leading rewards platform for airlines and banks.

https://exbulletin.com/world/international/...line_Business%insurance  

Rakuten TV is a video-on-demand (VOD) service with a huge library of films and TV shows that you can subscribe, rent or purchase in 4K HDR.

HDR, otherwise known as High Dynamic Range, offers for better contrast and brightness levels. A TV with HDR can display a wider range of ‘dynamic’ colours for brighter whites, deeper blacks and so on.
HDR-ready TVs now pretty mainstream, with the technology filtering down to cheaper sets (although they can’t go as bright as more expensive sets). And major streaming services such as Amazon, Netflix, Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus support HDR in one form or another, whether it’s HDR10, Dolby Vision HDR or HDR10+.

Rakuten TV supports both Dolby Vision and HDR10+, but its support for HDR is not as conclusive as it may seem at first. Let’s take a look at how to find 4K HDR content on Rakuten TV.

To watch 4K HDR content on Rakuten TV, you’ll need a TV that has the app. Rakuten TV is compatible with the aforementioned LG (2016 onwards) and Samsung Smart TVs (2015 onwards), as well as Panasonic (2018 onwards), Hisense (selected 2016 to 2018 models), Philips (2019 onwards) and selected Sony TVs (XG95/AG9/ZG9).

https://www.trustedreviews.com/how-to/...en-tv-4k-hdr-content-3690261
 

Rakuten Launches Takeout Service for Restaurants Amid Covid-19 Crisis

“Rakuten Realtime Takeout” offers pre-orders and pre-payment to help struggling restaurants in light of the pandemic

Julia Bahr | Brokers ( Retail FX ) | Friday, 01/05/2020 | 12:55 GMT+2

Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten today announced that it will launch the new takeout support service Rakuten Realtime Takeout on May 7, 2020.

The service makes it possible for customers to pre-order and pay for products from restaurants, cafes and other eateries, according to the firm.

Starting today, Rakuten will begin accepting applications to introduce this service from business customers nationwide.

The company announced that in response to the spread of COVID-19, initial fees and monthly usage fees for this service will be made free of charge for a limited time, until October 31, excluding credit card transaction and related fees.

Rakuten Realtime Takeout enables users to select products available for takeout from eateries in their neighbourhoods via their smartphone or computer website, and complete pre-order and payment using their Rakuten ID. They can now pick up orders in real time without waiting inside the restaurant.

Users will also be able to earn Rakuten Points according to the purchase amount and use earned points when paying. For the launch, this service will be available at 187 eateries in Tokyo located near Shibuya Station and Gotanda Station, with plans to expand to eateries nationwide.

https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/brokers/...mid-covid-19-crisis/  

Gier-Strategie wird in der Nach-Corona-Zeit gegen die Wand fahren - momentan erleben wir Opa Jeff's letzte große Nummer.

https://www.wpic.co/blog/...apan-the-future-of-rakuten-and-amazon-jp/  

Viber is a comprehensive alternative to Skype. It was primarily a service for calling directly between devices, but it now also has WhatsApp style chat and can be used to share files.
One of the great things about Viber is how widely available it is across platforms including Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Windows 8, Mac and more. That means video calling across devices or chatting using IM with emoticons should be seamless and simple. Plus it's all free.

https://www.pocket-lint.com/apps/buyers-guides/...-video-calling-apps
 

Kuchen haben und mit anderen nicht teilen wollen.

https://www.golem.de/news/...tickt-am-umsatzwachstum-2004-148214.html

Ich hoffe und gehe davon aus, dass sich auch bei Rakuten der Umsatz erhöht hat und weiter erhöht, aber Rakuten betreibt mit seinem Marktplatzkonzept quasi nur die "digitale Einkaufsstraße", während die Abwicklung überwiegend über die Anbieter auf der "digitalen Einkaufsstraße" läuft.

Rakuten ist zwar auch Zahlungsverkehr- und Logistik-Anbieter - und dabei sollte es bleiben. Denn wer alles will, sollte an das Lied von Udo denken: "Die Dinosaurier werden immer trauriger." Und nicht Karl Marx, sondern Adam Smith sprach einst: "Macht führt zu Verderbtheit und absolute Macht zu absoluter Verderbtheit."  

Paul Talbot Contributor

It’s a giant in Japan. Rakuten dwarfs its ecommerce competition and is considered Japan’s counterpart to Amazon.

In the U.S., Rakuten’s footprint is considerably smaller. For a look at the firm’s U.S. marketing strategy, I recently asked Trever Gregory, VP marketing at Rakuten Rewards to fill us in.

Paul Talbot: Rakuten is the largest ecommerce site in Japan. What’s been happening to try and achieve similar scale here in the U.S.?

Trever Gregory: We had the unique advantage of building Rakuten from rebranding Ebates, which was a beloved 20-year old business. When we started the transition at the beginning of 2019, the Cash Back business already had over 12 million members.

We made considerable investments in 2019 in consumer marketing. With over 14 billion impressions across a diversified media plan, it would have been tough for our target market to miss our campaigns.
By now you’ve likely experienced the Rakuten brand via TV, digital video, social media, digital sponsorships, sports marketing, PR, branded content, podcast, radio, social media influencers, our partnerships with American Express or Live Nation or myriad other places.

In addition, our global & U.S. sports marketing teams did a fantastic job of introducing Rakuten in the U.S. through our partnerships with FC Barcelona, the Golden State Warriors, the National Basketball Association and Stephen Curry. Our sports marketing efforts provided a head start with brand recognition across multiple demographics.

Talbot: You compete against formidable marketers including Amazon and eBay. How does your strategy address this and guide your marketing investments?

Gregory: We have to be extremely strategic and resourceful. Rakuten is large enough to make very big moves, but we’re also nimble and smart enough to constantly refine our messaging and plans to best communicate with our desired audience.

A blend of acquisition and brand marketing is key to achieving our quantitative goals, while reaching consumers on an emotional level that should pay off with long-term positive benefits.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultalbot/2020/01/...owth/#82ce7cf40264  

Global Retail Sales Projected To Fall 9.6 Pct On Average
ByPYMNTS
Posted on April 30, 2020

Amid the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, Forrester forecasts that global retail sales this year will drop by an average of 9.6 percent around the world. The research firm also forecasts that it will take four years for retailers to catch up with levels prior to the pandemic, according to an announcement.

“COVID-19 is significantly impacting the global retail landscape,” Forrester Principal Forecast Analyst Michael O’Grady said in the announcement. “Retail categories like grocery and essential consumables are performing well, while other categories like fashion, beauty and cosmetics are seeing a marked decline in consumer spend.”

O’Grady also noted, “In 2020, there will be a significant decline in global retail sales, particularly with non-essential items sold offline, which will be a big challenge for brick and mortar retailers. Online sales, however, will be more resilient. To navigate the crisis, retailers need to manage their costs and drive their eCommerce sales and services as much as possible.”

The coronavirus’ effect on retail sales be different throughout the globe due to regional differences and taking into account that each nation is in a different phase of the pandemic per the firm’s updated retail forecasts throughout North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia.

https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2020/...o-fall-9-6-pct-on-average/
 

Date / Time: Wednesday, May 6, 2020, 12pm ET

WWT, Cisco and Altiostar are working together to develop an open, cloud-based, virtualized Open RAN blueprint that will help service providers deploy high-performance networks, enable agile service delivery and reduce operational expenditures. The blueprint, validated in WWT’s Advanced Technology Center, is an end-to-end turnkey solution that accelerates operators’ time-to-revenue and offers a rapid 4G/5G upgrade path. Key aspects of this approach to be discussed in this webinar include:

         •§Deliver secure end-to-end 4G/5G solutions and services to service providers

         •§Maximize ROI on existing network infrastructure

         •§Enable a new ecosystem of vendors, leveraging a cloud-based architecture

         •§Future-proof architecture that creates a streamlined transition path to 5G

https://www.altiostar.com/...eployment-of-4g-5g-virtualized-open-ran/