• AI concierge for Rakuten Ichiba, offers users a discovery shopping experience and optimized product selection

Tokyo - Rakuten Group, Inc. today announced the launch of the agentic AI tool Rakuten AI on the mobile app version of Rakuten Ichiba, its flagship online marketplace.

This AI concierge on Rakuten Ichiba leverages conversational shopping to understand user needs and offer a discovery shopping experience featuring optimized product selection and unique product matching.

Users can easily search for products by accessing Rakuten AI via an icon in the bottom right corner of the Rakuten Ichiba app home screen and entering their desired budget, purchase purpose and usage scenario using text, voice, or images. By engaging in dialogue and responding to additional questions from the AI concierge, users can fully explore their personal needs and receive highly relevant product recommendations. This enables users to find ideal products, matching their needs and preferences, from Rakuten Ichiba's vast product catalog of approximately 500 million items.

In addition to Rakuten Ichiba’s product details and price comparison information, the agent also leverages general web search results to recommend products that reflect broader real-world trends including climate, popular trends and social landscape. This allows Rakuten AI to provide comprehensive information that supports more informed purchasing decisions for users.

Going forward, Rakuten aims to leverage its robust e-commerce service marketing data to provide product recommendations that even more closely align with user needs. Rakuten will continuously improve product recommendation accuracy, to deliver a highly personalized shopping experience for every user.

Rakuten is promoting the use of AI in all aspects of its businesses to achieve further growth, as part of its "AI-nization" initiative. Rakuten AI is a cutting-edge agentic AI tool developed by Rakuten to enhance customer experiences and support daily life within the Rakuten Ecosystem*1. Guided by the principles of innovation, creativity and collaboration to empower society and individuals, Rakuten seeks to connect users to a wide range of services within the Rakuten Ecosystem through AI agents and deliver increasingly personalized experiences. The integration of Rakuten AI into the Rakuten Ichiba app represents a significant step forward in expanding ecosystem-wide services.

Rakuten will continue to promote the use of AI within Rakuten Ichiba and strengthen collaboration with Rakuten AI to empower each individual shopper with even greater levels of convenience and satisfaction.

Rakuten Ichiba AI concierge service Available on: Rakuten Ichiba mobile app iOS devices: https://r10.to/hNtemb Android™️ devices: https://r10.to/hgi6c9 How to use: Users can easily search for products by accessing Rakuten AI via an icon in the bottom right corner of the Rakuten Ichiba app home screen and entering their desired budget, purchase purpose and usage scenario using text, voice, or images.