TOKYO, September 8th, 2011 -- Rakuten, Inc. (JASDAQ: 4755) today announced that it has made a minority investment in Russian e-commerce leader OZON.ru.
OZON.ru is the leading e-retailer in Russia, offering over 1.5 million products across a broad range of categories to its more than 5.2 million registered members. The Company also boasts the largest distribution and fulfillment network in the region. OZON.ru also operates the popular travel website “OZON.travel,” and “O-Courier”, its dedicated delivery service.
Rakuten Chairman and CEO, Hiroshi Mikitani, said, "We are pleased to form this partnership with OZON.ru. They have committed leadership, a talented team and a deep understanding of the Russian market. OZON.ru has built a highly successful e-commerce ecosystem and has focused expansion plans.”
Internet retailing sales in Russia grew by 22% in 2010 to reach RUB192.1 billion and are expected to grow by a 14% constant value CAGR over the forecast period to reach RUB361.9billion in 2015. (source: Euromonitor International, May 2011).
Rakuten’s investment in OZON.ru is its third investment in international e-commerce businesses since June, following the acquisitions of Ikeda in Brazil and Tradoria in Germany. The deal underscores Rakuten’s continued commitment to investing in promising e-commerce businesses and markets globally.
About Rakuten
Rakuten, Inc. (JASDAQ: 4755), is one of the world’s leading Internet service companies, providing a variety of consumer and business-focused services including e-commerce, travel, banking, securities, credit card, e-money, portal & media, online marketing and professional sports. Rakuten is expanding globally and currently has operations throughout Asia, Western Europe, and the Americas. Founded in 1997, Rakuten is headquartered in Tokyo, with over 10,000 employees worldwide. For more information, visit https://global.rakuten.com/group.
About OZON
The OZON Group is made up of three businesses which cover the different aspects of e-commerce – OZON.ru, O-Courier and OZON travel.
OZON.ru - Founded in 1998, OZON.ru is the leading online store in Russia. With more than 600,000 unique visitors to the site daily and 90,000 new user registrations per month, OZON.ru offers the largest assortment of goods with more than 1.5 million items listed. Sales are balanced between the 12 different product categories: books (37%), electronics (30%), DVD (8%), software, games and music (8%), mums & kids products, sports and beauty, antiques, and much more.
O-Courier - O-Courier is OZON’s dedicated delivery service. The company is responsible for the order delivery and collection of goods purchased through OZON.ru. Today, O-Courier operates a network of companies and agents in the 97 cities across the Russian Federation, ensuring the delivery of orders by courier from one of 959 delivery points. Besides OZON.ru, the company offers its services to more than 60 smaller e-commerce players.
OZON.travel – OZON.travel, OZON’s travel division is one of the leading Russian online travel booking services. OZON.travel has a daily turnover of 15.5 million Rubles (as of July 2011) and has grown to 40,000 visits per day. Established at the end of 2009, OZON.travel allows consumers to purchase airline and train tickets, book hotel rooms and other related.
September 8, 2011
- Rakuten, Inc.