Europe-Japan

Tag: e-commerce

  • Rakuten acquires UK e-commerce portal Play.com

    Rakuten acquires UK e-commerce portal Play.com

    Play.com: third European company acquired by Rakuten.com

    Rakuten continues global battle with Amazon.com

    On September 21, 2011, Rakuten announced acquisition of 100% of the UK e-commerce portal site Play.com for UKL 25 million (approx. US$ 40 million).

    Rakuten’s acquisition of Play.com (UK) follows the acquisitions of PriceMinister (France) and Tradoria (Germany).

    Play.com

    Play.com sells music, books, clothes, accessories and electronics, and has 14 million registered users and 7 million listed products. Play.com is the largest UK online seller of DVDs.
    Play.com has approximately 500 employees.

    Play.com was founded in 1998 on Jersey (Channel Islands) by Richard Goulding, Simon Perrée and Peter de Bourcier – all 28 years old – in backrooms of the local Athlete’s Foot store, run by Play.com founders Richard Goulding, Simon Perrée, and with investment from Zuma Investments Limited (registered in Jersey, see registration information in the JFSC Companies Registry here).

    • In 2004 Play.com sold 15 million shipments and sales of UKL 190m
    • In 2005 Play.com sold 25 million shipments and a sales of UKL 250m
    • In 2011 Play.com is estimated to achieve sales of UKL 400 million

    Play.com and the Channel Island tax loophole

    Under EU rules established around 1980, merchandise priced less than UKL 18 (approx. US$ 30) from Channel Island based websites could be sold to customers in the UK without paying VAT (value added tax). UK plans to close this loophole by March 2012.

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  • Rakuten acquires 80% of German e-commerce platform Tradoria

    Rakuten acquires 80% of German e-commerce platform Tradoria

    Rakuten continues global expansion

    Competing with Amazon.com….

    On July 28, 2011, Rakuten announced the acquisition of 80% of Germany’s e-commerce site Tradoria for a “double-digit million” amount.

    Tradoria has been rebranded as Rakuten.de and has become part of Rakuten Deutschland GmbH.

    Tradoria

    Tradoria was founded in 2007, and today has more than 4400 online stores offering approximately 8 million products.

    Tradoria is based in Bamberg, and before the acquisition by Rakuten, investors included:

    • Seventure Partners (about 24 %)
    • DuMont Venture (about 19 %)
    • European Founders Fund of the Samwer brothers (about 11 %)

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