Baidu and Rakuten launch their e-Commerce platform 'Le Ku Tian'

The Chinese search engine company Baidu and the Japanese online retailer Rakuten opened their e-Commerce platform Rakuten.com.cn, named 'Le Ku Tian'. Vendors can now register on the website.

The B2B2C joint venture between the two companies who invested USD 50 million in the establishment, was announced last January, Rakuten owning 51% and Baidu owning 49% of the venture.

The online service platform was given the Chinese name 'Le Ku Tian'. The reasons for adopting it were because its pronunciation is similar to Rakuten, and it is also a Chinese name representing happiness, Koichi Nakamura CEO of Rakuten.com.cn explained.

The Baidu-Rakuten joint venture wants to serve small and medium sized enterprises to take advantage of the Chinese e-Commerce market. To attract more partners, several business promotion campaigns will take place soon in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Chengdu, and Qingdao.

Le Ku Tian online service is expected to become one of China's biggest e-Commerce platforms in the long run. Chinese e-Commerce market is undergoing tremendous growth (see our previous post about statistics of China's e-Commerce) and some other actors have gathered: Taobao and Yahoo! Japan have recently joined forces to create the world's largest cross-border e-Commerce platform.