How to Increase Sales on Raketen Ichiba

What kind of methods should online shops do to increase their sales on Rakuten Ichiba?

Based on a seminar that Rakuten Ichiba did themselves, they have complied measures that should be implemented to increase sales on Rakuten Ichiba. Here, we are going to summarize those ways.

300 Measures was Used to Increase Sales

“Ability to implement measures and speed” determines success or failure”

There have been over 300 measures taken place to increase sales in Rakuten Ichiba stores. These methods are diverse, however, only 80% of them are effective for all the products being sold. I’m adding to this, that many of them cover the fundamental of online store management. So each of these is not difficult since any store can implement these to increase their sales.

To grow your business in Rakuten Ichiba:

Explanation of Four Concepts for Increasing Performance on Rakuten Markets

①Increase the exposure (number of impressions) of the EC site
②Improve the click rate and increase the number of accesses
③Increase the conversion rate and increase the number of conversions
④ Increase the repeat rate and increase the number of repeat customers

It is necessary to implement measures based on these basic strategies.

Stores that are growing their business are taking these 4 steps and implementing the 300 measures consistently, quickly, and thoroughly. On the other hand, stores with sluggish sales often fail to implement the necessary measures or are slow in implementing them. In other words, the result of the multiplication of the speed and ability to implement measures shows up as a difference in growth rates.

12 special measures released

How to increase your exposure, CTR, and CVR

There were over 300 measures to increase sales on Rakuten Ichiba, we will focus on 3 methods:

“How to increase traffic”
“How to increase the click-through rate on product pages”, and
“How to increase conversion rate”

Divided into 3 themes, there will be 12 methods in total.

Five Methods to Increase in Traffic

Explanation of How to Increase Store Traffic

Method 1: Aim for the Top Ranking

Based on the results of our customers, you can expect to acquire thousands of unique users if you are ranked high in the rankings. Decide on the products and strategies to aim for ranking in, and work backward from there to implement specific measures.

Method 2: Utilize Rakuten Ichiba's Affiliate Function

Make good use of “Rakuten Super Affiliate,” an affiliate function of Rakuten Ichiba. Stores that sell well on Rakuten Ichiba are often also affiliated with these affiliates, which can have a significant impact on sales. Many stores do not have an affiliate program, but in fact, it is an important way to attract customers to Rakuten Ichiba.

Method 3: Implement Correct Search Keyword Strategy to Product Pages

When selecting keywords for Rakuten Search measures, you should understand these search trends from “suggested words”, “related keywords”, “keyword rankings”, etc., you can analyze purchase data to find these keywords that led to inflows to stores and orders.

Method 4: Optimize for “Product Filtering Function”

Rakuten Ichiba’s product filtering function is an important route to attracting customers. To display products in the narrowed-down results, it is necessary to set RMS for each product in advance. As a result of neglecting this setting, there are many cases of opportunity loss.

Method 5: Create a lead from Rakuten Ichiba's featured page

Many of the banners placed on Rakuten Ichiba’s feature pages link to the search results screen of Rakuten Search. By implementing keyword measures for the linked page of the special page, it is possible to acquire users who have visited the special page.

Two Methods to increase the number of clicks

Thumbnails are the most important factor to increase click-through rate (CTR)

Next, we will explain measures to increase the click-through rate of product pages displayed on Rakuten Search. Thumbnails are the most important factor in increasing the click-through rate. We are sure are you very aware of it. The first page of Rakuten Search displays 45 products, but most Rakuten users look for the products they want by looking at thumbnails while scrolling through the search results screen. Therefore, first impressions of the thumbnail have a significant impact on the click rate.

Measure 6: What is a clickable thumbnail?

Many of the banners placed on Rakuten Ichiba’s feature pages link to the search results screen of Rakuten Search. By implementing keyword measures for the linked page of the special page, it is possible to acquire users who have visited the special page.

It is important to analyze and improve the click-through rate of thumbnails regularly

Measure 7: Improve thumbnails based on access analysis

Thumbnail click-through rates should be analyzed periodically and thumbnail content should be improved if necessary. It is also effective to analyze the thumbnails of competitors, refer to their good points, and differentiate from them so that they stand out on the search results screen.

Five Methods to Increase Conversion Rates

Improve conversion rate with recommendations and in-site searches

Improving the circulation within the site leads to an increase in the conversion rate

Next, we will explain measures to increase the conversion rate in stores. To increase the conversion rate, it is important to increase the in-store circulation rate and have users view more products. Data from Rakuten Ichiba shows that the more products users view, the higher the conversion rate.

Method 8: Support horizontal scrolling on a smartphone

It corresponds to the “flick” function that slides the product image on the smartphone site horizontally. The higher the number of flicks, the higher the rate at which products are added to the cart. You can register up to 20 images on the smartphone site, so register as many photos as possible and use the flick function.

Method 9: Expand the contents of the smartphone

The smartphone usage rate of Rakuten Ichiba exceeds 70%, and it is difficult to increase the conversion rate at stores where the amount of content on the smartphone site is less than on the PC page. Reflect on the reviews and product descriptions posted on the PC page on the smartphone site.

method 10: provide effective product recommendations

Set recommended products for each product. Consider what the user is looking for, how to appeal to them to arouse their desire to buy, and suggest “products in different sizes,” “products in different colors,” “similar products,” and “products on sale with the same specifications,” etc.

Method 11: Improve in-store searchability

Create a mechanism that makes users who enter the product page want to go around the store when they don’t like the product. In-site search tools such as excursion banners, rankings, etc. are effective. Since the main entrance to the store is the product page, improving the ability to move from product page to product page is important.

Method 12: Do not lead users outside the store

When announcing a sale carried out by Rakuten Ichiba with a banner in a store, the link destination of the banner is set to a special page in the company’s store. If the announcement banner jumps to the Rakuten Ichiba event page, users who have come to the store will be sent outside the store.

Sales will increase if you do what you need to do

Check now if you are implementing the measures you need to take.

Again, to increase sales on Rakuten Ichiba, it is important to implement measures quickly and thoroughly. In addition, it is also important to be consistent in your measures. For example, placing a large number of advertisements to increase exposure will have a limited effect if the click-through rate is low. It is necessary to link all measures together. If you consider these points and thoroughly implement the necessary measures in the correct order, you are sure to see an increase in sales and business growth.