Retail in Asia

In Trends

Japanese online retailer Rakuten expects to defy European gloom

The head of Japanese online retailer Rakuten Inc is used to defying convention, having quit the safety of a job at the Industrial Bank of Japan at the age of 31 and insisting employees at his new business spoke English at work.

Now Hiroshi Mikitani, or Mickey as he is known by his staff and on his business card, is trying to buck another trend – growing his brand of online "shopping mall" in Europe’s recession-hit retail sector.