Tokyo, June 1, 2017 - Rakuten, Inc. and Lawson, Inc. today announced that the two companies have concluded a basic agreement for the introduction of “Rakuten Pay,” Rakuten’s smartphone app payment service, to Lawson stores. Based on the agreement, from August 2017 customers will be able to make payments with Rakuten Pay at 13,169 Lawson stores nationwide (as of April 2017), including Lawson, Natural Lawson and Lawson Store 100 stores. This will be the first time that Rakuten Pay has been adopted by a major national chain for use in all of its stores
Rakuten Pay is a payment service that allows users to make payments smoothly at brick-and-mortar stores via a dedicated app. Payments can also be made using a combination of Rakuten Super Points and payment with the credit card registered to the user’s Rakuten membership ID. Users can also earn one Rakuten Super Point for every 200 yen (tax included) spent on purchases made through the app.
In addition to “QR Pay,” where the user scans a QR code displayed on a smartphone or tablet in the store, or “Self Pay,” where the user inputs the amount themselves, a new “Barcode Pay” payment method has been added to the Rakuten Pay app which allows users to present a barcode displayed on the app at Lawson stores nationwide to make the payment.
Rakuten Group and Lawson have been collaborating on a variety of services, such as the introduction of Rakuten’s electronic money service Rakuten Edy to all Lawson stores in August 2007, and the launch of a convenience store pick-up service in 2016, where users can collect products ordered from Rakuten Ichiba and Rakuten Books at Lawson stores throughout the country , as well as Rakuten Mobile SIM cards and devices from Lawson stores in Tokyo. The two companies are also collaborating on a variety of Rakuten member campaigns connected to Lawson stores around the country.
Going forward, Rakuten aims to provide more convenient services and functions, and to further increase satisfaction for both users and partner stores.