Companies to launch online grocery delivery
service in Japan and new eBooks and audiobooks offering in the
U.S.
Walmart president and CEO Doug McMillon and Rakuten, Inc.
Chairman, president and CEO Hiroshi “Mickey” Mikitani met in Tokyo
today to announce a new strategic alliance that leverages each
company’s unique strengths and assets to expand consumer reach and
enhance how customers are served in Japan and the U.S.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180125006424/en/
The collaboration includes the launch of a new online grocery
delivery service in Japan beginning in the third quarter of 2018.
In addition, Walmart and Rakuten Kobo Inc. have formed an exclusive
retail alliance that will enable Walmart to begin selling eBooks
and audiobooks, as well as offer Rakuten Kobo eReaders, in Walmart
stores and online at Walmart.com in the United States starting
later this year.
“Rakuten is a strong e-commerce business and we’re excited to
collaborate with the top online shopping destination in Japan,”
McMillon said. “Here in Japan and everywhere we operate, we’re
constantly exploring new ways to make every day easier for
customers by offering great experiences in stores, online, via
mobile—no matter how customers want to shop. We look forward to
expanding our grocery footprint in Japan and launching a new
offering of eBooks and audiobooks for our customers in the
U.S.”
Mikitani said, “As global leaders in e-commerce and offline
shopping, Rakuten and Walmart are uniquely positioned to empower
our customers around the world with innovative services.” He added,
“We are excited to partner with Walmart because of its commitment
to creating the best solutions to serve customers with low
prices.”
Japan online grocery delivery service
Rakuten and Seiyu GK, a subsidiary of Walmart, have reached a
basic agreement to establish a joint venture with the aim of
launching a new online grocery delivery service in Japan, to be
known as “Rakuten Seiyu Netsuper.” The new service is planned to be
launched in the latter half of 2018.
Rakuten and Seiyu will launch a new online grocery delivery
service leveraging each of the companies’ strengths to offer a more
convenient shopping experience that meets the changing needs of
customers in Japan. Rakuten Seiyu Netsuper will aim to increase
fulfillment capacity, enrich the merchandise offering and improve
convenience for the customer. The service will aim to increase
capacity in 2018 with the establishment of a dedicated fulfilment
center, in addition to offering deliveries from Seiyu stores.
The new service’s merchandise offering will showcase Seiyu’s
twin strengths of “quality” and “low prices.” To serve the needs of
customers increasingly short on time for preparation, the service
will include not only fresh produce and daily consumables but also
a rich lineup of convenient items such as cut vegetables,
partially-prepared foods and ready-meal kits, as well as popular
local gourmet products from merchants on the Rakuten Ichiba
marketplace.
Furthermore, the new service will utilize Rakuten’s deep
expertise in e-commerce to offer a site with an optimized user
experience, as well as leveraging big data and AI to offer a more
personalized merchandise offering.
Customers using the new service will enjoy the benefit of being
able to earn and use Rakuten Super Points, also allowing them to
use their points on more than 70 services within the Rakuten
ecosystem.
Rakuten Kobo U.S. eReading Service
As part of this alliance, Walmart will become Rakuten Kobo’s
exclusive mass retail partner for the Kobo brand in the U.S.,
offering Kobo’s nearly six million titles from thousands of
publishers and hundreds of thousands of authors to Walmart.com
customers. Walmart.com will offer eBooks and audiobooks for sale
later this year. Walmart will also sell digital book cards in
stores, enabling more than 4,000 stores to carry a broader
selection of books for customers.
All eBook content will be accessible through a Walmart/Kobo
co-branded app available on all iOS and Android devices, a desktop
app and Kobo e-Readers, which will also be sold at Walmart later
this year.
“Walmart is one of the top retailers in the world and one of the
largest booksellers in the U.S. Our strategy from day one has been
to partner with the world’s best retailers, so that they can easily
offer their customers the option of reading digitally. This informs
the software and devices we create, the books and authors we
promote, and also the partnerships we build,” said Rakuten Kobo CEO
Michael Tamblyn. “For us, this is another great opportunity to
serve book lovers at Walmart, those people who make reading an
important part of their lives.”
About Walmart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world
save money and live better - anytime and anywhere - in retail
stores, online, and through their mobile devices. The company’s
legal name will become Walmart Inc., effective on Feb. 1, 2018, to
reflect its growing status as an omni-channel retailer. Each week,
over 260 million customers and members visit our more than 11,600
stores under nearly 59 banners in 28 countries and eCommerce
websites in 11 countries. With fiscal year 2017 revenue of $485.9
billion, Walmart employs approximately 2.3 million associates
worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability,
corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional
information about Walmart can be found by
visiting http://corporate.walmart.com, on Facebook
at http://facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter
at http://twitter.com/walmart.
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 billion members around
the world. Since 2012, Rakuten has ranked in the top 30 of Forbes
Magazine's annual "World's Most Innovative Companies" list. The
Rakuten Group has over 14,000 employees, and operations in 29
countries and regions. For more information visit
https://global.rakuten.com/corp/.
About Seiyu
Seiyu operates retail chain stores nationwide from Hokkaido to
Kyushu, selling fresh food, groceries, apparel, general merchandise
and other products. We are striving to deliver our customers “Our
Promise”: Offering everyday needs at unbeatable prices at the
quality they want through the channel they prefer to shop, such as
stores, and online grocery delivery service, which provides them
with highly valuable shopping experience of key attributes for
differentiation: “Price Leadership,” “Quality and Freshness,”
“Product Assortment” and “Convenience.”
About Rakuten Kobo Inc.
Owned by Tokyo-based Rakuten and headquartered in Toronto,
Rakuten Kobo Inc. is one of the world’s most innovative eReading
services offering nearly 6 million eBooks and audiobooks to
millions of customers in 190 countries. Believing that consumers
should have the freedom to read any book on any device, Kobo
provides people with a choice when reading. Kobo offers an eReader
for everyone with a wide variety of E Ink eReaders to suit any
Reader’s style including Kobo Aura, Kobo Aura H2O, and Kobo Aura
ONE; along with the company’s free top-ranking eReading apps for
Apple® and Android®. Kobo’s award-wining eReaders can be found in
major retail chains around the world. For more information, visit
www.kobo.com.
View source
version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180125006424/en/
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.Media RelationsRavi Jariwala,
+1-479-273-4314news.walmart.com/reporterorRakuten, Inc.Corporate
Communications Department(+81)
50-5817-1104global-pr@mail.rakuten.comorSeiyu GKPublic
Relations+81-3-3598-7760orRakuten Kobo Inc.PR &
Communicationskobo-pr@mail.rakuten.com
Walmart (NYSE:WMT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Walmart (NYSE:WMT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024