Tokyo, October 16, 2013―Rakuten, Inc. subsidiary Rakuten Logistics, Inc. has started operations at the Rakuten Fulfilment Center (RFC) Kashiwa, its third distribution hub in Japan (Address: 1823 Fujigaya, Kashiwa, Chiba Pref., total floor area: 50,159m2).
Rakuten established Rakuten Logistics in 2010 in the aim of underpinning logistics for merchants on Rakuten Ichiba, Japan’s biggest internet shopping mall. It also aimed to build an economical and ecological social logistics platform to support the growth of the B2B2C marketplace e-commerce model.
The "Rakuten Super Logistics (RSL)" comprehensive fulfilment service started in August 2012, providing value-added services in terms of receipt and shipping of merchants’ goods, storage, packaging, delivery and customer service. “RFC Ichikawa I” was opened in 2011 in Ichikawa-shiohama, Chiba Prefecture as the first distribution hub in order to bolster the national distribution network and improve the delivery service level for customers. This was followed by “RFC Ichikawa II”, which opened in March 2013.
RFC Kashiwa, which recently started operating, will be mainly used as the main hub of inventory management and receipt and shipping operations for Rakuten 24 (http://24.rakuten.co.jp/), the next-day delivery service for all homeware.
Rakuten will continue to strive to offer more logistical support for e-commerce merchants and to improve the service level of deliveries to customers by strengthening its support network and enhancing its distribution hubs.