What is Rakuten?

Previously Buy.com, and now Rakuten.com is a global marketplace where merchants can sell their products and customers can buy them. Rakuten.com’s focus is on delivering more than just a transactional experience to consumers, instead making connections between merchants and buyers via its ‘discovery’ shopping, video content and reviews. Rakuten.com believes that eCommerce should be entertainment and fun for customers.
More about Rakuten.com

Rakuten Requirements

Merchants can now use two methods to add new products to the Rakuten.com catalog:

  • New Product Tool: Only Marketplace Merchant Account holders can access the New SKU Tool. To access the tool:
    1. Logon to your Merchant Account
    2. Click the “Create Product/Listing” text link and follow the directions
  • New SKU Feed: New SKU Feeds are used to add new products to Rakuten.com’s catalog. Adding new products to the Rakuten.com catalog using a New SKU Feed does not list the products for sale on the Rakuten.com site. Once a product has been created, you must use an Inventory Feed or click View Your SKUs in your RMS Portal to list it for sale.

Rakuten requires an Inventory Feed for the products to list for sale.

  • Detailed feed specifications can be found here
  • There are a total of 7 required fields (see the table below). Please ensure your e-commerce webshop contains data for these mandatory fields.
  • Click here for the feed template

Setup & Create a Rakuten Feed

Because the setup is relatively simple and all required fields are automatically mapped from common fields, clicking Get Feed as is will likely create a successful Rakuten Data Feed.

Things to be taken care of while generating Rakuten Feed:

  • Include the “##Type=Inventory;Version=5.0” in the first (or header) row
  • You must correctly spell each Field Name or the Inventory Feed will error
  • Each field in your file is tab delimited
  • Each listing is on a separate line within the file
  • Blank or null data for any field you have declared is given an extra tab to show that it is a null value
  • Do not delete or change the order of any data fields. If a data field is not required, then leave the field blank.

 

Upload your Rakuten Feed

All New SKU Feeds should be sent via email to MPSuccess@marketplace.rakuten.com for validation and processing unless you’ve been given approval to upload your New SKU Feeds or your ECC has directed you to send them elsewhere. You must be approved to upload New SKU Feeds through RMS Portal for your account but you do not need approval to create New SKU Feeds.