Rakuten France have announced plans to close the French marketplace at the end of 2026, with a transition period to enable buyers and sellers to complete transactions.
Sad news from the once mighty Priceminister, a stalwart of the French marketplace infrastructure. This goes way back over a decade when Japanese based Rakuten started buying Western marketplaces – in the UK it was Play.com, in the US it was Buy.com, and in France Priceminister, which is the only one that’s survived a decade under Rakuten’s stewardship. All the others were gone in a matter of years.
There were some offers on the table to take over Rakuten France, but the marketplace has said that none met the three criteria they were looking for (finance, job security, and a plan for long term stability). Even the former founder of Priceminister, Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, had thrown his hat into the ring as a potential buyer. However, it appears writing off their €200m acquisition price (plus subsequent investments) and the loss of around 180 jobs is a more preferable route than risk divesting and then the marketplace going bust anyway.
With traffic down some 33% (in a large part attributed to Asian competitors selling into Europe, which must be somewhat galling for a Japanese owned entity), it appears to be the end of the road for Rakuten.s marketplace aspirations in the West.
However the Rakuten name will remain with Rakuten Advertising and other entities such as Rakuten TV and Rakuten Kobo still active in the region.
