Rakuten using FAST

[bill]

Rakuten Deploys FAST Search Platform For Japan's Largest e-Commerce Portal [cpureview.com]

Rakuten Ichiba includes over 13,941 registered businesses and receives an average of over 25 million page views per day, year round. Given the vast amount of traffic and data their network handles, Rakuten required a powerful search platform that would offer Rakuten Ichiba shoppers the most relevant results to their product searches.

[bluelook]

750 million page views per month and 700 million USD? Yikes...
There are still enormous businesses in the web outside the regular pack of "famous" sites...
I have to start paying attention to the japanese market...

Jaa Nee (See ya!)

[kazonik]

They may be using FAST internally, but they're still paying attention to Google SERPs and how to SEO.

[bill]

Rakuten is so big and well developed that they really don't have to pay attention to SEO at all. What you're probably seeing is a combination of natural linking that has built up over the years combined due to their increasing brand awareness. They can also afford to throw a few yen at the SEs as well...but that's not SEO per se...that's advertising ;)

[kazonik]

Agree with you on the "afford to throw a few yen" part but a little birdy tells me they are actively considering SEO to improve the ranking of their pages on the major engines.
Wait and see...

[bill]

Yeah, maybe...but that's not what I see in the SERPs now...If they're considering doing a full fledged SEO/SEM campaign I'm sure a lot of people will want to have their hands in that pie. ;)

[kazonik]

Hi Bill,

Yes, so far no major SEO for them but they are "considering SEO" and what it may do for them.

Whether they decide to pursue it or not, we'll have to wait and see.

[takagi]

>> Rakuten is so big and well developed that they really don't have to pay attention to SEO at all.

Masahiro Inoue of Yahoo Japan presented on Wednesday the financial results and at that occasion he said they
may acquire new businesses such as online shopping sites.

"I want our other businesses, such as shopping services and message board services, to be No.1," said Inoue, the president. "To meet the goal, I will take any measures," including mergers and acquisitions, he said.

Tokyo-based Rakuten, with sales of JPY 9.89 billion in the year that ended March 2003, is the biggest Japan-based online retailer.

Source: Yahoo Japan gains from Web auction boom [iht.com]

[kazonik]

I wonder if Yahoo Auc is doing more turnover than Rakuten?
They certainly have the userbase.

Any idea Takagi-san?

[bill]

Here's what Yahoo Japan released for Dec. 2003:

Auction Business Division
Monthly Page Views for Auction Business Division -- 5,334 million PVs
Number of Auction Unique Users -- 14.21 million browsers
Number of Total Listed Items -- 4.46 million items
Average Closing Price -- 6,290 yen
Transaction Rate -- 30-51%
Number of Stores -- 2,022 stores
Monthly Volume of Auction Transacted on the Site -- Approx. 46.2 billion yen
Shopping Business Division
Monthly Page Views for Shopping Business Division -- 348 million PVs
Number of Stores -- 1,202 stores
Number of Select Stores -- 265 stores
Monthly Volume of Shopping Transacted on the Site -- Approx. 5.7 billion yen

[kazonik]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for those really great stats.

I read somewhere yesterday that Yahoo Japan anounced $63 million (approx) profit for the last quarter.
Not bad at all!

Whilst Rakuten have a nicer office, I certainly think Yahoo have a nicer share of the market as a whole.

It'll be interesting too see how things pan out between these two.

[takagi]

>> I wonder if Yahoo Auc is doing more turnover than Rakuten?

The company [Yahoo! Japan] runs Japan's largest online auction service with 3.57 million users and its online advertising business has enjoyed strong demand among corporate clients.

Source: Yahoo Japan Posts 87 Pct Jump in Profit [asia.news.yahoo.com]