Rakuten, Japan’s largest e-commerce company and Baidu, the leading Chinese language internet search engine, have launched a massive new online shopping mall in China. Named Lekutian, it is believed to be the largest B2B2C (Business to Business to Consumer) online shopping mall in China.
In January, Rakuten and Baidu announced their intention to jointly invest US$50 million over three years to build a new online retail destination.
Lekutian will adopt proven marketing programs, such as special shopping "marathons," a point rewards program and free shipping.
Why the name Lekutian?
Koichi Nakamura, Lekutian president and CEO, explained, "Lekutian is a combination of the Chinese words for Rakuten, and the word used by Chinese youth to express the English word ‘cool’. Le = Happy / Ku = Cool / Tian = Day."
MarketWatch reports that in Japan, Rakuten has approximately 64 million registered members and sales in 2009 totaled US$3.2 billion.