Professional AV
Listen: Rakuten Acquisition of Curbside Shakes Up Retail
Reports of the demise of brick-and-mortar retail may be a bit premature if Japanese retail giant Rakuten has anything to say about it. Rakuten, a rival to Amazon’s e-commerce domination, has just acquired Curbside in an “all cash” deal. The mobile commerce company, founded by former Apple engineers,Jaron Waldman and Denis Laprise, had been…
Reports of the demise of brick-and-mortar retail may be a bit premature if Japanese retail giant Rakuten has anything to say about it.
Rakuten, a rival to Amazon’s e-commerce domination, has just acquired Curbside in an “all cash” deal. The mobile commerce company, founded by former Apple engineers,Jaron Waldman and Denis Laprise, had been valued at more than $100M during its last venture round in 2015.
One of the most popular features in Curbside’s e-commerce suite is named ARRIVE, which can track a customer’s journey and ETA in order to have their products ready in an instant.
CEO and co-founder Jaron Waldman said in a press release: “For our customers and partners the headline is that nothing will change. Curbside will operate independently as a Rakuten-owned company with our team, services, partners and product offerings all remaining intact.”
In an additional move to strengthen customer loyalty, Rakuten is also developing an in-house blockchain currency, Rakuten Coin.
