The Rakuten online sales site, formerly PriceMinister, will cease operations on 1 October, according to BFM Business. The search for a buyer, required under the loi Florange, which obliges an employer to seek a solution before any closure, did not succeed. Some 180 employees are affected by this closure.
Rakuten France, the French subsidiary of the Japanese company founded in 1997, had acquired PriceMinister in 2010. The platform operates as a marketplace dedicated to third-party sellers, offering electronic devices, household appliances, toys, clothing or furniture. It will also close in Espagne, as the two countries share the same structure.
In July, the French subsidiary stated that "malgré les efforts déployés par le groupe pour mener à bien une cession de l'activité, les discussions approfondies menées avec les repreneurs potentiels n'ont pas permis d'aboutir à une solution viable". Management says no offer met the three criteria set, namely the "préservation des emplois", the "conditions financières de l'offre" and the "capacité (...) à assurer la pérennité de l'activité à long terme".
Among the rejected candidates was the French e-commerce company Pixmania, which had put itself forward as a potential buyer. Its project was supposed to "sauver plusieurs dizaines d'emplois". The CSE, however, like management, issued a negative opinion on these proposals. Pixmania said it was "extrêmement" disappointed "de ne pas avoir pu préserver" an activity representing "plus de 2.500 vendeurs" and "plus de 400 millions d'euros de volume d'affaires".
A structural decline
The site's number of customers has fallen by 33% over ten years, and its traffic has dropped by 42% over the same period. This decline contrasts with the strength of the Japanese group, present in 30 countries, also active in telecommunications and advertising, with revenue of more than 11 billion euros according to its website.
