Business / Corporate Mar 6, 2020
Rakuten puts free delivery plan on hold after backlash from retailers
Rakuten’s retailers have made it clear that they are not all on board with shouldering the shipping costs.
Business / Corporate Feb 28, 2020
Rakuten's plan to force shipping costs on retailers draws ire of Japan's FTC
The Fair Trade Commission said Friday it has asked a court to halt Rakuten Inc.'s plan to make retailers on its online marketplace shoulder the cost of free shipping amid complaints about the policy. The antitrust watchdog submitted the request to the Tokyo District Court ...
Business Feb 10, 2020
Japan's antitrust watchdog searches Rakuten office over its free shipping policy
The antitrust watchdog Monday searched Rakuten Inc.'s head office in Tokyo over the internet mall operator's plan to make marketplace tenants shoulder the cost of its proposed free shipping service, sources close to the matter said. The Fair Trade Commission last month launched an investigation ...
Business / Corporate Jan 29, 2020
Antitrust watchdog launches probe into Rakuten's free delivery plan
The Japan Fair Trade Commission has started investigating online mall operator Rakuten Inc.'s plan to make marketplace merchants shoulder the costs of its proposed free shipping service, a source close to the matter said Wednesday. The source said the antitrust watchdog has begun hearing from ...
Business / Corporate Jan 22, 2020
Online sellers petition for antitrust probe into Rakuten free shipping policy
A group of merchants on Rakuten Inc.'s online shopping mall on Wednesday submitted a petition with some 4,000 signatures to the Fair Trade Commission, asking it to investigate the e-commerce giant's planned free shipping policy. The union of more than 300 sellers on Rakuten alleges ...
Business Nov 1, 2019
Manipulation of search results may violate antitrust law, says Japan's FTC
The Fair Trade Commission said in a survey report Thursday that the practice of online shopping site operators prioritizing products made by themselves or their affiliates in users' search results could be in violation of the anti-monopoly law. The antitrust watchdog will notify shopping site ...
Business Oct 15, 2019
Walmart seen subsidizing vendors in online holiday price war with Amazon
by Matthew Boyle
Hold on to your smartphone — the holiday price wars between Walmart Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. are heating up. Walmart, the world's largest retailer, has introduced a program to temporarily lower the price consumers pay for some items on its marketplace site, where third-party vendors ...
Business Oct 10, 2019
Japan's Fair Trade Commission probes restaurant booking websites over alleged strong-arm tactics
The Fair Trade Commission has launched an investigation into whether the operators of major restaurant search and booking websites in the country have imposed unreasonable conditions on participant eateries. FTC Secretary-General Akinori Yamada announced the launch of the investigation during a news conference Wednesday. He said ...
Business Sep 19, 2019
Japan's Fair Trade Commission investigates suspected school uniform price cartel
The Fair Trade Commission on Wednesday conducted on-site inspections of Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores Co.'s head office in Tokyo and other locations over an alleged price cartel for the uniforms for students of five public high schools in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture. The inspections also targeted ...
Business Sep 12, 2019
BMW Japan raided by FTC over allegations it set unfair sales quotas: sources
Japan's Fair Trade Commission raided BMW Japan Corp. on Wednesday for allegedly imposing unreasonable sales quotas on its distributors and making them buy vehicles when they missed the targets. A representative of BMW Japan confirmed that the FTC raid had taken place, and commented that ...
Business Aug 30, 2019
FTC compiles draft guidelines for tighter regulations on tech giants and use of customer data
The Fair Trade Commission said Thursday it has compiled draft guidelines for tighter regulation of technology giants in order to strengthen protection of customer data, and aims to introduce the first such rules as early as October. The antitrust watchdog said the guidelines are designed ...
Business / Corporate Aug 7, 2019
Japan's FTC demands action from four big contractors who keep cropping up in antitrust cases
The apparently unprecedented move by the FTC followed a spate of antitrust violations by companies linked to the four — Obayashi Corp., Kajima Corp., Taisei Corp. and Shimizu Corp.