The ecommerce website Rakuten is preventing Amazon from taking off in Japan. A poll conducted in the country by DI Marketing shows that 70% of online buyers use Rakuten as opposed to 66% who use Amazon. Meanwhile, a separate survey from NTTCom found that just 8% of Japanese respondents visited Amazon on a weekly basis, with 27% visiting once every few months. Whilst the company has achieved huge success globally, including in countries which it has only had a presence for a short amount of time like India, since Amazon's Japanese launch 17 years ago it still struggles against the homegrown marketplace, Rakuten. However, Amazon has announced plans to invest further in the market, with the creation of a 10,000-strong team of couriers to support one-day delivery for Amazon Prime members.Â
