Become.com Shopping Search Enters Japan Market
Become.com has formed a joint venture with Transcosmos Corporation of Japan to launch Become Japan, which is the first International expansion of Become.com as part of their Asia expansion plan which includes the launch of Become Korea before July.
Become Japan will focus initially on product research and reviews using the company’s patent pending AIR(TM) (Affinity Index Ranking) search technology.
“Japan is one of the world’s most vibrant economies and they have actively embraced online shopping which now accounts for about 30 percent of all Japanese direct marketing sales,” said Yeogirl Yun, founder, chairman and CTO of Become.com. “Working with our partner Transcosmos, we believe Become Japan will further accelerate consumer confidence by giving online shoppers the most useful, relevant product information available with one easy click on our site.”
While Become Japan will initially offer product research only, Yun added that the company plans to follow up by adding its comparative shopping feature.
Become Japan is entering into Yahoo’s backyard, as Yahoo Japan is hands down the most used Japanese Shopping and Auction portal in this vibrant shopping market, which is second to only the US with $2.9 billion in consumer driven ecommerce sales in 2004. Yahoo is essentially the Internet in Japan.
Google, not as strong of a search player in the Japanese market, is a strong PPC player, with accomplished AdWords partners in Goo, Big Globe, Excite Japan and the controversial Livedoor company.
Currently there are no sponsored ads being showing on Become Japan.
Search Engine Journal will be attending the Search Engine Strategies Japan Show in Tokyo on April 20th or 21st and will have more information on Become Japan and the Japanese Search Market.
