According to JETRO’s 2017 report, in terms of domestic e-commerce, Amazon had a 20.2% market share in 2016, compared to Rakuten’s 20.1%. [1] This is not a monopoly per se, but 20% of the market is too big for any business to ignore, giving Amazon (and Rakuten) significant leverage, particularly over smaller businesses.

[1] Summary in Japanese: https://netshop.impress.co.jp/node/4590 (link to the JETRO report is at the bottom)

Not anymore.

Why his account age has any meaning in the discussion?

I found it odd. I'm recognizing the importance of the issue to suls, as it drew this person to respond when the account goes for weeks without commenting on submissions.

Do you find this sort of acknowledgement of a commenter's behavioral patterns odd? Why did you ask?

accusations of shilling are not allowed on HN, if you feel somebody is doing so, mail the moderators at [email protected], dont just sling crap at people, especially with such a flimsy premise.

That's non-sequitur. I can't even imagine who you think suls would be shilling for. Are you accusing suls of shilling and asking me to report that for you?

I've merely asked for elaboration and provided a recent article that seems to contradict suls statement. If there's market research indicating that Amazon is winning against Rakuten in Japan, that would be interesting to me.

Yeah, I noticed after posting that I probably should have linked some source to backup my statement.

This is the article I’ve read in January: http://biz-journal.jp/i/2018/01/post_21873_entry.html It seems to be based on this table from said JETRO report: https://netshop-cdn.impress.co.jp/sites/default/files/images...

I wouldn't call Rakuten dead yet, but that is interesting to see Amazon just barely edging them out for the first time. Thanks for the link suls.