PChome and Rakuten Enter into Alliance Agreement
Alliance to expand customer base for both partners and improve service convenience for members in Taiwan
PChome Online Inc., Taiwan’s leading e-commerce service group, and Rakuten Inc., a leading global innovation company in e-commerce, communications and fintech, today announced the forming of a strategic alliance at a media event in Taipei. The alliance will leverage each company’s unique strengths to expand consumer reach and improve service convenience for members in Taiwan.
Through the alliance agreement, PChome and Rakuten expand the loyalty point program that enable PChome P point and Rakuten Super Point to be used in each
other’s network to significantly enlarge the using scenario. Taiwan customers can also browse and buy products from Rakuten Ichiba on Ruten Auction, a PChome subsidiary, simply using Mandarin and Taiwan local payment with international direct shipping. Moreover, PChome Online Shopping has launched several promotions for Taiwan Rakuten Card holders and users can soon buy Rakuten Kobo e-reader on PChome24h
Shopping.
Hung-Tze Jan, Chairman of PChome said, “Cooperation, sharing and reciprocity are the essence of the PChome and Rakuten alliance. In the past, e-commerce and internet services developed in domestic markets could only be enjoyed by local users. Through this strategic alliance with Rakuten, and based on the membership services we provide in our respective ecosystems, we will be able to offer our members with convenient access to enjoy even more online and offline services. We will also be able to eliminate the hurdles of payments, logistics and information flow and build boundary-free services that are convenient both online and offline.”
“We are excited to form this alliance with PChome, one of Taiwan’s leading online marketplace companies,” said Hiroshi Takasawa, Head of Rakuten Asia Regional
Head Office. “Taiwan is an important market for us and our goal is to expand the Rakuten ecosystem of services that offers our Taiwan users valuable member benefits, including new and exciting online shopping choices and more ways to earn and spend Rakuten Super Points”.
Over the past 10 years, Rakuten’s local presence in Taiwan has grown from a single online marketplace service to an ecosystem of six different services that include Rakuten Ichiba, Rakuten Travel, Rakuten Card, Rakuten Kobo, Rakuma, and consumer research company Rakuten Insight.
Since PChome Online was listed as Taiwan’s first internet company in 2005, it has grown to Taiwan’s leading e-commerce service group that provides an array of online services that includes C2C, B2C and B2B2C marketplace businesses, online payments “PChomePay”, “PChome InterPay” and “Pi Mobile Wallet” that offers web and mobile payment services, and PChome Point launched in May 2018.
Going forward, through this alliance Rakuten and PChome Online will endeavor to explore future collaboration opportunities that will expand e-commerce business in Taiwan and across Asia and provide consumers with more ways to enjoy shopping online.
About PChome Online
PChome Online (8044 TW) is the largest ecommerce group in Taiwan, reporting NT$34.60 billion consolidated revenue in 2018. It’s listed on Taiwan Stock Exchange since January 2005, with the largest B2C portal PChome24h and the best C2C website Ruten Taiwan. The B2C catalog, the most comprehensive one in Taiwan, features over 5 million items, in which 2 million offer pioneering 24-hour delivery in Taiwan. For more information visit https://www.pchome.tw/
About Rakuten
Rakuten, Inc. (TSE: 4755) is a global leader in internet services that empower individuals, communities, businesses and society. Founded in Tokyo in 1997 as an online marketplace, Rakuten has expanded to offer services in e-commerce, fintech, digital content and communications to more than 1.2 billion members around the world. The Rakuten Group has over 17,000 employees, and operations in 30 countries and regions. For more information visit https://global.rakuten.com/corp/.
