Rakuten to acquire stake in market research player AIP
Rakuten Inc. has reached an agreement with a group of shareholders, which includes the largest individual shareholder, of AIP Corporation (AIP), a Tokyo based online market research fieldwork agency in Asia, for the acquisition of its outstanding shares. Rakuten intends to make AIP a wholly owned subsidiary through the acquisition of the shares from existing shareholders. The acquisition price of the shares has not been disclosed.
AIP holds its proprietary research panels in 15 countries, primarily in Asia. It has offices in eight locations in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, including its headquarters in Tokyo, and has a customer base that extends to 36 countries and regions throughout the world.
Rakuten started its research business in 2002. Its subsidiary, Rakuten Research, supports its clients’ marketing activities through a wide array of research led services, with a focus on online. Rakuten Research has a proprietary research panel comprising of 2.28 million consumer panelists, making it one of the largest survey panels in Japan. In recent years, it has also been expanding its offerings to Japanese clients looking to perform marketing activities internationally.
The internet research market has seen rapid growth in Japan in recent years, and in 2013 it became a USD 11,335 million market that now accounts for 29 per cent of the research market globally. In particular, remarkable growth is predicted in the Asia region, which will be backed by increased consumption as a result of economic growth, the aggressive entry of global corporate clients into the market, and the rapid increase of Internet users.
Rakuten expects the acquisition of AIP’s shares to strengthen Rakuten Research’s international market research services for Japanese clients. Rakuten Research will be able to provide services that are capable of meeting the diverse needs of companies that are looking to expand into other countries by combining its domestic panel in Japan with the large-scale, high quality panels AIP holds in Asia.
On the other hand, by joining the Rakuten Group, AIP will be able to provide its existing clients with the market research services including Rakuten Research’s panel. In the future, the Rakuten Group will strengthen synergies between its research business and the other businesses being expanded throughout the world, while also accelerating its global expansion by means of enhancing its panels in various international markets.
