Rakuten and Seiyu to partner in online grocery service

Japanese online retail company Rakuten is partnering with Walmart-owned supermarket Seiyu to launch an online grocery service. Spokespeople from the companies say about 20,000 products will be available on the site, drawn from the Seiyu range, including fresh food. Orders will be fulfilled from stores, restricting the service – for now – to about 16 Japanese suburbs, however a warehouse has been opened near Tokyo to serve the capital.

“We can tap into Rakuten’s 99 million-strong membership base,” said Seiyu executive officer Tamae Takeda. “[Rakuten’s] advantage is in technology, so we can combine our strengths.”

The new online grocery service will compete with one launched by Amazon in April last year, as well as those offered by larger Japanese supermarket chains.

Seiyu and Rakuten plan to offer free delivery on orders over a set threshold, or $4 for those under it.