Rakuten and PChome Enter into Alliance Agreement

Alliance to expand customer base for both partners and improve service convenience for members in Taiwan

Taipei, March 14, 2019 – Rakuten, Inc., a leading global innovation company in e-commerce, communications and fintech and PChome Online Inc., Taiwan’s leading e-commerce service group, 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.

Under the alliance agreement, PChome will sell Japan products from Rakuten Ichiba merchants on PChome's e-commerce platforms, promote Taiwan Rakuten Card, sell Rakuten Kobo e-reader devices, and provide members with new and exciting ways to earn, spend and exchange Rakuten Super Point and PChome Point on PChome Online and Rakuten e-commerce platforms.

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.