Indonesia isn’t enough: Hiroshi Mikitani, CEO of Japan’s largest online retailer Rakuten said at a press conference in Jakarta yesterday that after entering Indonesia, his company wants to expand to other countries in the South East Asia.
Mikitani singled out the Philippines and Malaysia as the next targets for Rakuten’s global expansion, without giving details (time frame, potential partners, etc.). It is is likely that once established, the Rakuten sites in these countries will eventually be linked to sites in other countries.
The Philippines and Malaysia boast web populations of 24 and 17 million, respectively, making them the No. 6 and 9 markets in Asia as a whole (Indonesia: 33 million).
