Major Japanese e-commerce group Rakuten is launching a new commercial cooperation with leading domestic parcel carrier Yamato using the latter’s new e-commerce logistics solutions to improve its delivery services and enhance customer convenience.
The two companies said their collaboration will improve convenience for Japanese e-commerce customers using Rakuten Ichiba, the country’s largest internet shopping mall, by offering more pick-up locations, improving operational efficiency for e-retailers and also supporting new merchants.
On June 1, Yamato launched “YES!” (Yamato E-Commerce Solutions), which brings together the know-how of each of the Yamato Group companies to offer a full line-up of services for online businesses, including solutions for order management, bill issuing, delivery, and payment settlement. In addition, the company has expanded its range of pick-up locations and methods to accommodate the diverse needs of its customers.
Under the cooperation between Rakuten and Yamato, Japanese online shoppers will be able to pick up goods bought on the Rakuten Ichiba marketplace at the approximately 20,000 convenience stores that have agreements with Yamato Transport, as well as approximately 4,000 Yamato Transport sales offices.
E-retailers will benefit by providing a higher level of service to their customers through “YES!,” which improves operational efficiency and offers a wider range of pick-up locations.
Furthermore, by offering new collaborative programs that combine “YES!” with plans for new merchants looking to open stores on Rakuten Ichiba, the companies said they will set in place an environment in which businesses can more easily start e-commerce. Further collaboration steps are planned in the future.
Rakuten stressed it has already developed a variety of services to support Japanese e-commerce, including its online shopping mall Rakuten Ichiba, 17 branch offices throughout the country and in-depth support for businesses that operate stores on its marketplace.
The e-commerce group, which is internationalising its business through acquisitions and commercial agreements, offers products from more than 41,500 merchants on its shopping portals and has more than 15 million active buyers, according to corporate information on its website. Its business model is based on a membership scheme, currently with some 100 million registered users who collect reward points for purchases across all the group’s diverse businesses.
In 2014, the Rakuten group increased total revenues by 15% to JPY 599 billion (€4.4 billion), with nearly a third contributed by the Rakuten Ichiba shopping portal and a separate online travel business. Operating profits rose by 18% to JPY 106 billion (€776 million), with net profits up 65% to JPY 71 billion (€520 million).
In contrast, Yamato Holdings saw only low growth due to the slow Japanese economy in the 12 months ending March 31, 2015. The group increased revenues by just 1.6% to JPY 1,397 billion (€10.2 billion) but improved operating profits by 9.3% to JPY 69 billion (€505 million) and net profits by 7.9% to JPY 37.5 billion (€270 million) thanks to cost reductions.
The main parcels delivery service Ta-Q-Bin saw a 2.6% volume decline to 1.6 billion parcels due to the weak economy but also lost some contracts to competitors. The parcels business Yamato Transport has about 46% of the Japanese domestic parcel market ahead of Sagawa Express (34%), Japan Post (12%), Seino Transportation (4%) and Fukuyama Transporting (3.5%), according to Japanese government figures.
Under a management plan running until 2019, Yamato Holdings aims to improve its financial results through revenue growth and cost controls, improve stakeholder satisfaction levels and operational efficiency.
