Fanatics brings sports merchandise to Japanese shoppers on Rakuten Ichiba online marketplace
Fanatics, a digital sports platform and specialist in licensed sports merchandise, has launched its first online marketplace in Japan by opening a store on Rakuten Ichiba, operated by Rakuten Group.
Japanese sports fans will have access to Fanatics’ range of licensed sports merchandise here.
The store currently offers more than 10,000 officially licensed products from across the company’s partner roster of the top leagues and sporting organisations in the world, such as MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, and major European club and international football teams.
Whilst many Japanese players such as MLB star Shohei Ohtani have transferred and risen to prominence across US and international leagues, Japanese sports fans have historically had to bear with inconveniences such as high prices, lack of availability, and long wait times in order to acquire licensed sports merchandise from international teams.
The aforementioned store allows people to order directly from Fanatics’ US fulfilment centres. According to Fanatics, this leads to significantly reduced lead times, and affordable prices. The firm also plans to expand its available range to over 50,000 products in time.
Masanori Kawana, Managing Director of Fanatics in East Asia, says: “We are always looking for ways to better serve sports fans across Japan, who are renowned for their passion and pride.”
“Launching our first marketplace store for fans in Japan on Rakuten Ichiba was therefore a natural fit for us, due to Rakuten’s existing partnerships with a host of major sporting names such as the NBA, as well as its reputation for excellence as Japan’s leading online marketplace.
“By partnering with Fanatics in this way, retailers are able to expand into entirely new markets while mitigating a great deal of the risk that would usually come with such a move, leveraging Fanatics’ industry expertise and experience in order to place thousands of licensed sports products – quite literally – at their customers’ fingertips.”
“It has been a pleasure to work with Rakuten so far and we look forward to building on our collective offering to fans in the months and years to come.”
Yui Ono, Senior Executive Officer and General Manager of EC Consulting Department from Rakuten Group, comments: “We are delighted to welcome Fanatics, a leading company in licensed sports merchandise, to Rakuten Ichiba – allowing sports fans in Japan to enjoy more accessible and convenient shopping for internationally licensed products.”
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