If you are looking for a book full of technical know-how about setting up an ecommerce marketplace, then Marketplace 3.0 is not for you. Instead, it delivers a refreshing and inspiring outline of author Hiroshi Mikitani’s view of the new rules of borderless business.
In particular, it examines his belief that global success will be enabled by the evolution of the online experience driven by personalisation, intelligent search and user behaviour. Central to this is his assertion that "the internet is not a vending machine", and he has attempted to create a collaborative and empowered approach to marketplaces with the Rakuten ecommerce marketplace model.
Typically, Mikitani’s approach to transformational management strategy is left-field, seemingly driven by an innate appreciation of the human condition and behavioural anthropology. The book describes in colloquial English the strategies he employed to deliver cultural change at pace, and to create empowerment – of employees, consumers and business partners.
One of Mikitani’s first strategies he terms "Englishnization" – imposing a deadline beyond which all employees conduct business only in English, even if this entailed learning English from scratch while continuing to deliver day-jobs in Japan.
Obviously growth at pace outside the Japanese market is facilitated by the ability to discuss and agree without translators – a simple observation. However, traditional Japanese business hierarchy apparently works against empowerment, reinforced by a language protocol which seems to not "allow" directive statements from a subordinate, such as "yes" or "no", or a conflicting idea. "Englishnization" "permissioned" the use of a more direct language and rapidly resolved a number of cultural challenges without a self-conscious objective of specific behavioural and cultural change – enabling direct decision-making, the sharing of ideas and empowerment.
The Rakuten philosophy and marketplace approach is to develop a customised retail ecosystem that empowers individual retailers and consumers, rather than enforcing only the most efficient marketplace platform processes. Mikitani rejects the well-trodden path of price-driven, control-freak user-experience efficiency – the "vending machine" – and plays instead to the basic human condition, in other words, a need for novelty and discovery, and the perceived value derived from personal relationships and collaboration with retailers, to drive long-term internet success.
From the management of acquisitions to the creation of meaningful KPIs, business issues are questioned and evaluated against the objectives of empowerment, customisation and long-term growth. In a world that will inevitably become bored by instant availability and price-led decision-making, this book offers an easy but provocative read, and gives a refreshing alternative to accepted Western ecommerce practices.
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If you only have time for this… six key points from the book.
1 The internet is not a vending machine. As content and commerce converge, publishing marketplace alternatives to the "efficient vending machine" model are already emerging.
2 It’s not about a controlled storefront, but rather virtual empowerment. Centralised management of a localised execution seems to be an objective now playing online in the same way it has been for bricks-and-mortar retailers.
3 Consider federation versus imperialism. New ways of looking at old challenges are always welcome.
4 The new rules of borderless business. Mikitani’s belief is that global success will be enabled by the evolution of the online experience driven by personalisation, intelligent search and user behaviour.
5 All about "Englishnization". Imposing a deadline beyond which all employees conduct business only in English, even if this entailed learning English from scratch while continuing to deliver day-jobs in Japan.
6 The Rakuten philosophy. Develop a customised retail ecosystem that empowers individual retailers and consumers, rather than enforcing only the most efficient marketplace platform processes.