The J.League and Rakuten announced on Monday a two-and-a-half-year e-commerce deal that will see Rakuten relaunch the league's online store, with the "eventual aim of rivaling Nippon Professional Baseball in merchandise sales," according to Shintaro Kano of KYODO. Financial terms of the deal, which "follows in the footsteps" of the J.League's record
210B yen online broadcasting contract with British-based Perform Group, "were not released." The J.League's online store will be "rebooted in mid-July, when merchandise for all 54 clubs in the three divisions will begin selling." Rakuten CEO & Chair Hiroshi Mikitani "has made splashes in the football world of late," having inked a
four-year shirt deal with Barcelona at a reported $60M per season and signed World Cup winner Lukas Podolski of Germany for his J.League team, Vissel Kobe. Currently, online merchandising "is down to the individual effort of each club." Rakuten will streamline sales, packaging and delivery through the new store, with the aim of "increasing not only the league's sales but also to gain a better gauge of the fans" (
KYODO, 4/24).
