TOKYO, September 10, 2012 – Rakuten, Inc. today announced plans to open an new fulfillment center in Kawanishi City, Hyogo Prefecture in autumn 2013, in order to strengthen its logistics services in Japan.
This new fulfillment center, which will offer a total floor area of approximately 78 thousand square meters, will be used as a domestic strategic distribution hub to cover a wide area of Western Japan centered on the Kansai region.
In 2010, Rakuten opened its first fulfilment center in Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture and began providing the Rakuten 24 service. This allowed customers to make purchases from multiple merchants on Rakuten Ichiba, including Rakuten Books, and have their entire order delivered together at the same time.
Starting this past summer, a subsidiary of Rakuten, Rakuten Logistics, Inc, also launched Rakuten Super Logistics, a comprehensive fulfillment service spanning from merchandise warehousing to storage, packaging, shipment, customer service, and various other value added services, for Rakuten Ichiba merchants using the Rakuten Fulfillment Center in Ichikawa City.
With the opening of this new fulfilment center in Kawanishi City in 2013, Rakuten will be able to increase the Rakuten Super Logistics service throughout the region, as well as reduce shipment lead time in Western Japan.
Going forward, Rakuten will continue to expand its line-up of logistics services for Rakuten Ichiba merchants. This includes expanding the number of products eligible for Asuraku next-day shipping service in order to offer customers an even more convenient internet shopping experience.