Rakuten Group Domestic E-Commerce Annual Gross Merchandise Sales Surpass Five Trillion Yen in 2021

Rakuten Group, Inc. today announced that its annual gross merchandise sales (GMS)^*1 for domestic e-commerce surpassed five trillion yen in 2021.

 Rakuten Ichiba’s GMS for its first month in business after launch in 1997 was a modest 320,000 yen. Since then, e-commerce has grown to become an integral part of society’s infrastructure. In an era in which society is undergoing dramatic change, Rakuten was only able to achieve this five trillion yen milestone thanks to the support of all its stakeholders — from the merchants and partners that have walked together with Rakuten over the years, to all of the customers using Rakuten’s services. Even one year after the significant growth recorded in 2020 with the pandemic-driven increase in stay-at-home demand, Rakuten continued to deliver strong growth in 2021.

This increase in domestic e-commerce GMS highlights the remarkable impact of the growing Rakuten Ecosystem, as it expands through synergies with mobile carrier service Rakuten Mobile and rapidly growing Fintech business services. For this reason, Rakuten is now aiming for its next goal of achieving 10 trillion yen in annual domestic e-commerce GMS.

In line with a corporate mission of contributing to society by creating value through innovation and entrepreneurship, Rakuten will continue to work to address society’s needs by striving to offer even better services to customers, not only in Japan but around the world, through distinctive technology offerings and business models.

*1 Domestic e-commerce GMS is the combined transaction amount for Rakuten Ichiba, Rakuten Travel (GTV on checkout basis), Rakuten Books, golf business, Rakuten Ticket, Rakuten Fashion, Rakuten Dream businesses, Rakuten Beauty, Rakuten Delivery, Rakuten 24 (first-party business), auto business, Rakuma, Rakuten Rebates, Rakuten Seiyu Netsuper, etc. between January and December 2021. (Based on preliminary figures.)