Walmart and Rakuten partner to launch a new online grocery service in Japan, sell Rakuten-owned Kobo's e-readers, audiobooks, and e-books in US
Walmart today announced a major expansion in terms of its global e-commerce presence: the retailer is entering a strategic partnership with Tokyo-based Rakuten …
Context & Ripple Effects
This January 2018 announcement is the seed of a multi-year Walmart–Rakuten exchange: the grocery service it launches in Japan grows into Walmart selling 1,200 US branded products on Rakuten Ichiba, while the Kobo side of the deal becomes a full Walmart eBooks storefront with 6M+ titles and a $9.99/month audiobook subscription.
The relationship deepens beyond commerce — by 2021 Rakuten counts Walmart among the anchor investors in its $2.2B share issuance to fund competition with US rivals, making today's partnership the first step from distribution swap to capital tie-up.
First-order effects
- Walmart gains an entry into Japanese online grocery without building local infrastructure, trading access to its US retail footprint for shelf space at Japan's largest e-commerce operator.
- Rakuten's Kobo devices and content get physical and digital distribution inside Walmart stores and online in the US, where the e-reader brand had no comparable retail channel.
Second-order effects
- Amazon faces a two-front challenge from a single alliance: a well-capitalized grocer attacking its home-turf categories in Japan while bundling audiobook subscriptions against Audible in the US.
- US grocery delivery rivals must respond to Walmart pairing its 100-city contract-delivery expansion with international sourcing, since scale in both markets strengthens its negotiating position with suppliers.
Third-order effects
- If asset-swap partnerships keep outperforming solo market entry, cross-border retail alliances become the standard route for US retailers entering Japan — and for Japanese platforms buying US distribution — culminating in equity stakes rather than mere commercial deals.
The trend: Global e-commerce competition is consolidating into bilateral alliances that trade market access instead of acquisitions, with Walmart and Rakuten as the template case.