In 2020, Rakuten Mobile launched the world’s first fully virtualized cloud-native mobile network, to become Japan’s fourth major mobile carrier.
“By being the first in the world to do everything with software, we have many diverse advantages,” Mikitani explained. “Costs are lower, it’s easy to build in new programs, it’s versatile and speedy.”
The mobile business has already had positive knock-on effects for Rakuten Ichiba’s merchants.
“Users who subscribe to Rakuten Mobile are buying 1.7 times more [on Rakuten Ichiba] over the span of a year,” Mikitani revealed. “At first, I thought this was because we gave away so many points as an incentive to sign up with Rakuten Mobile. But it seems like this is a permanent change in behavior.”
Mikitani explained that a significant number of new customers joining the Rakuten Ecosystem – as many as 20% – are doing so through Rakuten Mobile. But the majority are existing members who are already accustomed to shopping on Rakuten Ichiba.
“With other mobile carriers, most customers flow in through the mobile services before being sold new online services like online shopping and finance,” he outlined. “For us, it’s the reverse: Around 60% of Rakuten Mobile users are regular shoppers on Rakuten Ichiba. Compared to our competitors, this rate is astronomical.”
With new mobile subscribers spending an average of 70% more on Ichiba, growth of the Rakuten Mobile user base can only mean good news for Rakuten Ichiba merchants. Mikitani compared Rakuten Mobile’s beginning years with those of Rakuten Card, which after 16 years in business, has now issued some 25 million credit cards in Japan.
“It is the top credit card in Japan by a wide margin. And it’s growing the fastest, too. The growth trajectory of Rakuten Mobile, meanwhile, is around three times faster than that of Rakuten Card,” he remarked. “We have around five million Rakuten Mobile subscribers right now, and as this number grows to 10, 20, 30 and 40 million, I think you can expect your GMS to skyrocket as well.”
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