Rakuten closes UK online store

Japanese eretailer Rakuten is closing its UK online store following a review of its European operations, reports the Bookseller. Rakuten will also exit the Spanish and Austrian markets as part of a downsizing of its international presence, which began in February when the company pulled out of Southeast Asia and restructured its presence in Brazil. The UK store sold print books and audiobooks via third-party retailers including Wordery. Rakuten bought eretailer Play.com for £25m (A$48.5m) in 2011 as a rival to Amazon in the UK, and launched Rakuten.co.uk in 2014, replacing the Play.com domain which shut in March 2015. Rakuten also owns ereading company Kobo.

Category: International news