even on still days, some folk just piss into the wind !
[rakuten] 550,000 globally 368,000 Japan
[buy] 135,000 globally 1,300 Japan
..just an observation
*
If they are looking to expand to USA/Europe with Buy.com, would the name Rakuten/Buy.com work as a brand? They should have just left it as Buy.com, IMHO.
"Rakuten, Inc. (ζ₯½ε€©ζ ͺεΌδΌη€Ύ Rakuten Kabushiki-kaisha?) (JASDAQ: 4755) is a Japanese electronic commerce and internet company based in Tokyo, Japan. Among its numerous online properties, its flagship business-to-business-to-consumer e-commerce site Rakuten Ichiba, is the largest e-commerce site in Japan and among the worldβs largest by sales. Its global presence has been reinforced through buying online retailers Buy.com (US), Priceminister (France), Ikeda (now Rakuten Brasil), Tradoria (now Rakuten Deutschland) and Play.com (UK), and investments in Ozon.ru and AHA Life. Whereas other marketplaces may compete directly with sellers, Rakuten sets out to empower merchants deliver "Omotenashi", a Japanese attitude to customer service and hospitality, intended to help sellers create lasting relationships with buyers."
I think they know what they are doing!
LOL. I remember when my affiliate news from LinkShare started showing up as "Rakuten LinkShare;" I couldn't for the life of me understand why any company would weight down a well-established and very successful brand name with a vanity plate.
when Google, Amazon, Ebay etc want to expand into any part of the world where they do not yet have a market share they always go with their brand not with any generic names..
the result is they all have global brands instead of a bunch of generic sites..
Rakuten has just decided which is better for them too