Rakuten CEO, Hiroshi Mikitani, to Keynote IRCE 2013

BOSTON, June 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Loyalty technology and monetization leader Rakuten Loyalty will attend the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition (IRCE) 2013 in Chicago this week, where CEO of parent company Rakuten, Hiroshi Mikitani, is a featured keynote speaker. Mikitani's keynote address "Spanning the Globe for eCommerce Opportunity" focuses on what companies must do to become global competitors in today's internet-based economy.

Mikitani joins a group of other high profile keynote speakers, including Mindy Grossman, CEO of HSN, Gian Fulgoni, co-founder of comScore Inc., and special guest Al Gore, former Vice President, Director at Apple Inc., and Google Strategic Adviser.

The Rakuten Loyalty team is excited about Mikitani's keynote, and presence at the conference, which highlights a week filled with opportunities to learn from and network with the top minds in online retail and global eCommerce. Members of the Rakuten Loyalty team are available to meet with conference attendees throughout the week to share their expertise in loyalty and online monetization strategies, as well as their innovative rewards acceleration platform. Rakuten Loyalty, and sister companies Rakuten Linkshare, Rakuten.com (Buy.com), and Rakuten MediaForge are located at booth #215.

"IRCE is always a great opportunity to meet with and learn from retail thought leaders, experts and visionaries as the industry continues to evolve, through the convergence of loyalty, eCommerce, and digital marketing all of which we specialize in at Rakuten Loyalty. Having Mikitani as one of the keynote speakers makes this year's conference particularly special," said John M. Reistrup, VP at Rakuten Loyalty. "We're excited to share the Rakuten booth at the conference and showcase our entire suite of offerings across all of Rakuten's brands to our clients."

IRCE 2013 will be held at Chicago's McCormick Place West, between June 4 and 7. Larger than America's other two major e-retailing events combined, IRCE 2013 expects to draw 9,500 e-retailing executives from more than 40 countries. Mikitani is scheduled to speak on June 5, from 8:45 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. CDT.

To find out more about the event and speakers, visit
http://irce.internetretailer.com/2013/speakers/

About Rakuten Loyalty

Rakuten Loyalty is the inventor of the world's most innovative rewards acceleration platform – servicing the largest loyalty programs around the world.  The Rakuten Loyalty team develops technology that gives loyalty program members the opportunity to earn rewards for their everyday online activity – opening up explosive new revenue opportunities for our clients – and giving their members the opportunity to earn the rewards they love anywhere, anytime. Rakuten Loyalty is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rakuten (JASDAQ: 4755).

About Rakuten

Rakuten, Inc. (JASDAQ:4755), is one of the world's leading Internet service companies, providing a variety of consumer- and business-focused services including e-commerce, e-reading, travel, banking, securities, credit card, e-money, portal and media, online marketing and professional sports. Selected by Forbes as 7th among the World's Most Innovative Companies of 2012, Rakuten is expanding globally and currently has operations throughout Asia, Western Europe, and the Americas. Founded in 1997, Rakuten is headquartered in Tokyo, with over 10,000 employees worldwide. For more information, visit http://global.rakuten.com/corp/.

SOURCE Rakuten Loyalty