Rakuten, Japan’s internet company, said that it has reached an agreement to acquire US-based eCommerce firm Buy.com, in a transaction valued at approximately $250m, in a move to expand its eCommerce business globally.
Buy.com was among the first online retailer to offer enhanced shopping features such as BuyTV, which enables consumers to watch product video reviews and learn about products before purchase.
Rakuten said that the acquisition will allow it to accelerate the notion of borderless eCommerce in both directions from East to West, and West to East.
As the two companies merge, Rakuten expects to deploy product innovations across its global platform, to empower retailers with cross-sale opportunities, and to introduce new sales and marketing programs leveraging collaboration opportunities between its various operating groups.
The acquisition will be carried out by Rakuten’s US subsidiary Rakuten USA. Rakuten has recently begun to expand its eCommerce business globally.
Rakuten had sales of $3.2bn in 2009. Its core business ‘Rakuten Ichiba’ is Japan’s Internet shopping mall and offers more than 50 million products by over 33,000 merchants. In 2005, Rakuten established a presence in the US through its acquisition of performance marketing company LinkShare.
Hiroshi Mikitani, founder, chairman and CEO of Rakuten, said: “As we evaluated how to accelerate our global expansion, it became clear that a partnership with Buy.com made perfect sense.
“As a company, Buy.com shares our vision for the future of ecommerce – as a platform to give consumers the best value no matter their location, and to merge shopping with entertainment, and to help retailers build deep and lasting consumer relationships.”
