The most important thing to consider is which of these sites your target audience is buying or will your products from. For example, if your target audience is over 35 years old, then Rakuten Ichiba might be the recommended site. On the other hand, if you want to keep opening fees low, then Yahoo Shopping is a good choice.
Yahoo! Shopping | Rakuten | Amazon | |
Sales (distribution amount) | 890.1 billion * 1 | 3,900 billion * 2 | 3,423.8 billion yen 2019 (estimate) |
Number of store openings | 872,289 As of the end of March 2019 | 51,815 As of October 1, 2020 | 178,000 As of June 2015 |
Number of items to be exhibited | 280 million as of December 2017 | 270 million as of October 1, 2020 | Over 400 million * 3 |
Membership | 23.4 million Yahoo! Premium as of June 2020 | 115.9 million * 4 | 5 to 8.5 million Prime member as of January 2020 |
* 1 Yahoo! Shopping, LOHACO, Charm Co., Ltd., PayPay Mall, ZOZO Co., Ltd. << * Excluding ZOZOTOWN head office >> FY2019
* 2 Accommodation distribution such as travel, golf distribution by GORA, business, Rakuten 2019
* 3 including values for Direct, Rakuten Delivery, Rakuma, Coupon, etc.
Japanese small and medium-sized sellers selling on Amazon.co.jp Aggregation period: June 1, 2019, to May 31, 2020
* 4 The number of members who have logged in at least once after registering as a member in September 2020. Excluding withdrawals
When comparing in terms of sales, then Rakuten Ichiba ranks at the top with 3.9 trillion yen. Next is Amazon with 3,423.8 billion yen, then Yahoo with 890.1 billion yen.
However, Rakuten Ichiba’s sales include other sales such as Rakuten Travel. So it can be seen that Amazon is by far the largest e-commerce mall in terms of pure sales. Yahoo’s sales are about /3 the size of those of Rakuten Ichiba and Amazon.
Comparing the number of online stores, then Yahoo Shopping has the most with an overwhelming 872,289 stores. However, in terms of the number of operational stores, Amazon has more with 178,000 stores compared to Yahoo Shopping’s 168,425 stores.
Rakuten Ichiba has the smallest amount of stores with 51,815 because they limit the number of stores that can be opened.
The sales per store, calculated by dividing sales by the number of stores, are as follows:
- Yahoo shopping: 5,284,844 yen
- Rakuten Ichiba: 75,267,779 yen
- Amazon: 19,234,831 yen
Both Yahoo and Rakuten have sales that are outside of their e-commerce sites. Even with this information, Yahoo has the lowest sales amount. Rakuten is said to cost about 50 million yen per store, so when compared in terms of “selling power,” Rakuten Market can be said to be the overwhelming leader.
The number of members is related to an e-commerce site’s ability to attract customers. This means that Rakuten Ichiba ranks at the top with 115.9 million members. While Yahoo Shopping has less membership with 23.4 million people, this number is increasing due to being associated with Softbank users and PayPay members. While Amazon has about 40 million people, including non-Prime members.
CHART: There are many Rakuten users in the age group over 35 years old
Looking at the data released by Nielsen in July 2020, both men and women over the age of 35 tend to have many Rakuten market users.
Data released by Nielsen in July 2020 shows that both men and women over the age of 35 tend to be Rakuten Market users.
There are many Rakuten users in the 35+ age group, especially women, with purchasing power since the 35+ age group has spare money to spend. As long side this, Amazon is the most popular for both men and women of all age groups, while Yahoo Shopping seems to be widely popular among people over the age of 35.
Initial cost | free |
Monthly system usage fee | free |
Sales royalties | free |
Store point funding | 1% to 15% (1% is required) |
Campaign funding burden | 1.5% is required |
Affiliate Partner Reward Resources | 1% to 50% (1% is required) |
Affiliate fee | 30% of Affiliate Partner Reward Resources |
Deposit cycle fee | Free (occurs by selecting at least twice a month) |
Payment service individual fee | Due to various payment service fees |
Settlement service basic fee | free |
Reference site: Fees / Costs (Yahoo Shopping)
Yahoo’s opening fees and commissions are the lowest fees opening compared to the others. For one, opening a store is free and commissions are charged for each contact at 3.5%. In addition, the following settlement fees will be charged:
Payment Method | Commission |
Credit card payment | 3.24% of the payment amount (tax exempt) YJ Card Co., Ltd. issued card (* 1) is 3.0% of the payment amount |
Mobile payment (carrier payment) | 4.48% of the payment amount (excluding tax) |
Mobile Suica payment) | 3.6% of the payment amount (excluding tax) |
Convenience store settlement | 150 yen / case-300 yen / case (excluding tax) |
Bank transfer payment (pay-easy) | 150 yen / case (excluding tax) |
PayPay balance payment | 3.0% of the payment amount (excluding tax) |
Reference site: Payment service (Yahoo Shopping)
For example, if you’re using credit cards, it costs 3.24% per contract. With the original cost being 3.5%, this makes the total to be 6.74%. Compared to in-house e-commerce sites, the fee is higher, but it is by far the lowest among significant e-commerce malls.
Go for it! Plan | standard plan | Mega shop plan | |
Recommended for people like this |
Little experience in running an online shop | Target monthly sales of 1.4 million yen or more |
Requires a large number of products and image quantity |
Monthly store opening fee (excluding tax) | 19,500 yen / month Annual lump sum payment | 50,000 yen / month Two installments every six months | 100,000 yen / month Two installments every six months |
System usage fee (excluding tax) | 3.5-7.0% of monthly sales | 2.0-4.5 % of monthly sales | 2.0-4.5 % of monthly sales |
Number of products that can be registered | 5,000 products | 20,000 products | Unlimited * 1 |
Image Capacity | Up to 500MB | Up to 5GB | Unlimited * 1 |
* 1 Mega shop plan “Number of products that can be registered” and “Image capacity” are unlimited, but the initial values are 50,000 products and 5GB, respectively.
If you wish to change the upper limit, please apply for an increase in the number of products and capacity each time.
Reference: Store opening plan and cost (Rakuten Ichiba)
The initial cost of opening a store on Rakuten Ichiba is 60,000 yen. They offer three different plans depending on what you are looking for. The cheapest is their “Ganbare! Plan” which is 19,500 yen per month. The commission fee varies depending on the plan, but it can cost between 13% to 15% including the point source and store opening cost.
Item | Large Exhibition | Small-Lot Exhibition |
Monthly registration fee | 4,900 yen / month | free |
Basic contract fee | free | 100 yen/time |
Sales commission | 8% to 15% | 8% to 15% |
Reference: Price plan (Amazon)
There are two ways to open a store on Amazon: “Large listing” and “Small listing.” So, if you can sell more than 50 items per month, the large-lot listing will be less expensive. The sales commission varies depending on the item’s category, but generally, it’s about 15%.
To open an online store on one of these e-commerce sites, you need to pass a screening. So let’s see how easy it is to prepare:
Yahoo! Shopping | Rakuten | Amazon | |
Store Opening Examination | Usually | Strict | Easy |
Number of Templates | One type unified Complete transition from January 2021 | More than 4,000 types of image material templates | none |
Original Customization | ◯ Yahoo triple | ◯ Rakuten Gold | △ Product Introduction Content |
Compared to the other sites, Amazon has the easiest screening process for opening a store. On the other hand, Rakuten Ichiba has the strictest screening which results in not everyone opening a store. Yahoo Shopping is not as strict as Rakuten Ichiba but is becoming stricter every year.
The key to this screening is whether or not sales are expected. This can be selling second-hand goods, food, alcoholic beverages, and pharmaceuticals where they need a permit or needs to be examined.
In addition to this, Yahoo, Rakuten, and Amazon can open stores not only for corporations but also for sole proprietors. However, if you want to open a store as a side business, then Amazon is the best choice.
The design of these stores will differ depending on the products and brand image on the EC sites. So if you are an inexperienced person in web production, then having a template will make things a lot easier.
Yahoo! Shopping offers templates from footers, navigation menus, free space, and other items that can be edited individually. It can be operated intuitively and can help you build your site smoothly.
Rakuten Ichiba has “Sketchpage for Rakuten Ichiba” with 4,000 templates available for free until the end of April 30, 2021. “Compass for Rakuten Ichiba” has a monthly fee of 2,980 yen and “SUMAOU! For Rakuten Ichiba” for 3,980 yen per month will start as new services.
Amazon has a style known as “carpooling” on existing product pages. So unless it is an original product, then there is no need to create a new product introduction page or product description.
Creating a site using a template is easy, however, it does not allow much design freedom.
So if you want to freely design a site, then you need to pay for a paid plan. With this, you can build a more lively site by expanding the design (CSS and Javascript) and preparing high-quality product images.
YahooShopping offers a paid plan called “Yahoo Triple” for 3,000 yen-5,000 yen per month while Rakuten Ichiba offers a service called “Rakuten GOLD” for free. Amazon has a large-scale listing plan for original products only that allows you to create original “product introduction content” at the bottom of the product page.
Sales on e-commerce sites will increase during the campaign or sale periods.
For example, Yahoo Shopping has a “5th Day Campaign” which will be held on the 5th, 15th, and 25th of every month, and the “Doublet Day Coupon” will be held on the 11th and 22nd of every month
Rakuten Ichiba has “5 and 0 Day” on the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, and 30th of each month, “Rakuten Wonderful Day” on the 1st of each month, and “Patronage Appreciation Day” on the 18th of each month.
Amazon holds a Prime Sale about three days each month.
In addition to these sale periods, each site has its big sale campaign several times a eat such as Yahoo! Shopping’s “Super PayPay Festival, “Rakuten Ichiba’s “Rakuten Super Sale,” and Amazon’s “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday.
In each campaign, the business is the point source. As a result, Yahoo has a burden rate of 2.5% to 14% (optional), and Rakuten has a burden rate of 1% to 14% (optional). The advantage to this is the ability to attract customers and increase the purchase rate.
Sites with a high point ratio can increase their exposure as e-commerce operators focus on appealing to customers. Also, users will be motivated to buy because they can receive points, which will boost the purchase rate.
Let’s start with the advantages and disadvantages of opening an online Yahoo Shopping store.
Benefits of Opening a Yahoo! Store
The biggest advantage is that there are no opening fees or sales royalties. Although there is a point source and settlement fee for each contract, it is still 6.74% which is half the price compared to other than the e-commerce site.
Another appealing point is that there are no “external links” on Yahoo! Shopping. This means your customers can go to your site and your other SNS platforms. However, if there are too many irrelevant links, then it can be rejected.
Disadvantages of Opening a Yahoo! Store
The biggest disadvantage to opening a store on Yahoo is that the number of stores is increased since the opening fee is free. As competition increases in proportion to the number of store openings, it is becoming difficult to be ranked high without investing in advertising. Still, there are no fees for opening a store, which makes it easy to have promotional expenses. It is an impression that the taste is gradually decreasing.
Benefits of Opening a Rakuten Store
The advantage of opening a site on Rakuten Ichiba is that has an overwhelming ability to attract customers. This ability is due to their “name recognition,” and their “Rakuten Points” is also highly influential. There are more than 20 million users with the “Rakuten Card,” which allows users to each point. Many users use their accumulated points at Rakuten Ichiba, which helps to attract customers.
Disadvantages of Opening a Rakuten Store
The disadvantage of opening a store on Rakuten Ichiba is the high opening fee. The commission per contract is not too high, but their fixed monthly cost can be burdensome. In addition to this, you have to pay for advertising costs. While there are no options for which advertising, they do offer discounts for campaigns.
Finally, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Amazon.
Benefits of Opening an Amazon Store
The advantage of opening an Amazon Store is that anyone, regardless of whether it is a corporation or an individual, can easily open a store. All you need is to upload the necessary documents and go through a screening process that can be about 3 days.
Also, since Amazon’s format “lists” products one by one, there is no need to build a store from scratch or create a product page. There is also no fee when opening a store, even if it’s a small listing.
Disadvantages of Opening an Amazon Store
Unlike Rakuten Ichiba and Yahoo Shopping, you cannot demonstrate the uniqueness of your store with its product lineup and services on Amazon. Since Amazon has a listing-type format, product brands and prices determine sales. This unique feature may not be appealing since it can be easy to get caught up in price competition.
In this article, we discussed which is the best EC mall to open a store: Yahoo, Rakuten, or Amazon.
The appeal of e-commerce sites is their ability to attract customers because of their high name recognition. If you are selling any product at a reasonable price, then focusing on sales promotion on any of these sites will increase your sales. The shortcut to success is choosing an e-commerce site that is preferred by the target users you are aiming for.
Still, there aren’t many businesses that can survive on e-commerce sites for many years. Many businesses struggle with price competition with competitors and fixed/variable costs for commissions and sales promotion which can result from them withdrawing from this market. So once your e-commerce site is set up and has loyal customers, you might want to think about a move to your site with name recognition.
