Direct delivery from Japan and cross-border trade between Taiwan and Japan has just become a whole lot easier. Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten Inc and Taiwanese e-commerce operator PChome Online Inc have signed a cooperation agreement to pool their respective membership bases and services. This will enable the establishment of a unified reward system, which will combine PChome’s "PPoint" and Rakuten’s “Super Points,” allowing customers to accumulate and redeem reward points using a single system. Under the agreement, cross-border trade will be expanded to promote a Taiwan-Japan strategic alliance.
According to PChomestore chairman Jan Hung-tze, he established the e-commerce Web site pcstore.com.tw in 2004, several years before China’s Tmall, having observed the Rakuten model for a period of five years. Jan says the Web site has a 10 million-strong member base in Taiwan and has been looking to expand overseas. President of Rakuten’s Asia operations, Hiroshi Takasawa, says Taiwan is an extremely important market for the company.
Rakuten and PChomestore started collaborating six months ago by allowing PChome’s “PPoint” and Rakuten’s “Super Points” to be accumulated and used together, and expanding e-commerce trade between Taiwan and Japan. This means that Taiwanese customers can use the ruten.com Web site to get a taste of what is currently trending in Japan and, through a Chinese-language interface, purchase items using their local currency. The system also allows Taiwanese customers to enjoy direct shipping from Japan, in addition to other Rakuten e-commerce services.
Photo courtesy of PChome
照片:網家提供
Benefits provided by Rakuten’s Taiwan credit card can be accumulated when making purchases on the PChome Web site, and PChome will make Rakuten’s Kobo e-Reader available on its PChome24h Web site and provide a nationwide, 24hr delivery service. Rakuten and PChome will also team up their logistics operations in Taiwan.
PChome’s Jan says he feels an affinity toward Rakuten’s business model and opened negotiations with the company in 2009 to discuss possible areas for collaboration. Jan traveled to Japan to meet with Rakuten’s founder Hiroshi Mikitani, but at the time the overall terms of the agreement were not fully hammered out. However, in light of Rakuten’s ever-expanding range of services, both sides have now agreed to embark upon an initial phase of collaboration, combining their respective membership bases and reward schemes.
Once the two companies formalize their collaboration, it will be possible for Japanese goods to be directly shipped to Taiwan by Rakuten shop owners in Japan, making cross-border trade much simpler.
Photo courtesy of Rakuten
照片:樂天提供
(Translated by Edward Jones, Taipei Times)
日貨直送,台日跨境交易變簡單了。日本樂天集團已與PChome網路家庭簽訂合作協議,利用雙方會員數和服務,進一步建立P幣和樂天超級點數互相累積和兌換機制,衝點數經濟,也將同步擴展台日跨境線上交易,推動台日策略聯盟。
網家董事長詹宏志強調,他在觀察樂天模式五年後,二○○四年成立商店街,幾年後中國的天貓才成立。網家在台有千萬會員,盼服務跨出台灣。日本樂天集團亞洲區總裁高澤廣志表示,台灣對樂天來說,是一個非常重要的市場。
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
照片:維基共享資源
樂天與網家是在六個月前開啟此次合作,PChome的P幣與樂天的樂天超級點數可相互累積使用,也將同步擴展台日之間的跨境線上交易,台灣消費者將可透過露天拍賣網站,體驗與日本同步流行、中文介面購買、在地金流、日本直送等跨境電商服務。
此外,台灣樂天信用卡優惠將同步在PChome的購物網站上使用,PChome也將在PChome24h購物銷售樂天的Kobo電子書閱讀器,並提供全台保證二十四小時送貨服務,樂天在台的物流也會跟網家合作。
詹宏志表示,他對樂天模式情有獨鍾,二○○九年就跟樂天談過合作,也去日本見了樂天創辦人三木谷浩史,但當時整體條件沒有那麼完備;隨著樂天有越來越多服務,雙方第一階段先把會員跟點數串接起來。
網家與樂天合作後,未來日貨會從日本店家直送台灣,跨境交易將變得更簡單。
(自由時報記者廖千瑩)
FOLLOW UP
課後練習
1. Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten Inc’s founder, Hiroshi Takasawa, held a joint news conference with Taiwan’s PChome Online Inc last month in Taipei.
2. PChome Online and Rakuten will integrate their respective reward point systems starting from next month.
3. PChome has a 10,000-strong customer base in Taiwan.
4. Under the agreement, PChome will begin selling Rakuten’s Kobo e-Reader on its Web site.
5. Under the agreement Rakuten will allow direct shipping to Taiwan of products sold on its Japanese Web site.
(Edward Jones, Taipei Times)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110