May 12, 2015

- Practical IT classes at 57 schools in collaboration
with 58 local companies until January 2016 -

Tokyo, May 12, 2015 - Rakuten, Inc. today announced that it will expand the number of high schools participating in the Rakuten IT School*1, a program of classes on e-commerce aimed at high school students, to a total of 57 schools in all 47 prefectures of Japan, the largest number of schools in the history of the program.

Rakuten IT School, which began in 2008 as part of the company's CSR activities, is a program held every year that provides practical lessons in e-commerce to high school students, with the aim of fostering entrepreneurial spirit and revitalizing local regions. The new education guidelines for high schools announced in 2010 by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) state that all commercial high schools in Japan introduce e-commerce lessons to newly enrolled students from the 2013 academic year, and a ministry-designated textbook has also been released for this current academic year. Against this backdrop, Rakuten will be expanding the Rakuten IT school program during this fiscal year to also include the 20 prefectures where classes had not yet been held. The classes will commence in stages from May 13 and will continue until January next year.

As the number of schools where classes will be held is increasing substantially this fiscal year to 57 from 25 schools last year, the number of local companies collaborating on the program with Rakuten has also increased from 26 in FY2014 to 58-the highest number yet. In the Rakuten Ichiba version of the classes, speakers are selected from merchants that have won a Rakuten Shop of the Year Award, an annual award given to merchants based on sales performance and a popularity vote by Rakuten members, etc., and veterans that have over 10 years of experience as Rakuten merchants. For the Rakuten Travel version of the classes, hotels which have received a Rakuten Travel Award, an award given to those hotels that have achieved outstanding results and received high approval ratings in any given year, will support the program. In the program, the students learn how to develop product proposals from the perspective of customers, plan sales promotion activities for the products of participating merchants or accommodation plans for participating hotels, and in the final half of the course, students will gain practical experience selling products through an online shop. In addition, by making repeated presentations about their proposed plans throughout the course, the students also get the opportunity to polish their communication skills.

With the aim of developing human resources ready for the workplace, there are an increasing number of commercial high schools across Japan that have begun incorporating actual retail activities into their courses, with students developing products and participating in exhibition and sales events at local shopping centers. By sharing with the students the management knowhow and successful business processes of the approximately 42,000 Rakuten Ichiba merchants and approximately 30,000 Rakuten Travel registered facilities in Japan, Rakuten is contributing to the fostering of entrepreneurial spirit and youths who are able to play active roles in their local communities, and the nurturing of the next generation of e-commerce businesspeople. Rakuten hopes that the program will give students the opportunity to hone their business instincts prior to moving on to higher education or joining the workforce.

*1 For more information about Rakuten IT School: http://global.rakuten.com/corp/sustainability/activities/education/it-school/

The Rakuten IT School offers courses aimed primarily at students of commercial high schools that are approximately one year long. By giving students the opportunity to learn about the trial and error process of online shop owners and deepen their understanding of the difficulties involved in selling products and the importance of work, Rakuten hopes the program will help foster an entrepreneurial spirit in them. The company also hopes that through learning about the potential of e-commerce, which can be carried out regardless of time or place, students can become involved in their local communities through the utilization of e-commerce and thereby have increased opportunities to contribute to the revitalization of their regions.

The content of the classes is based on the content of "Rakuten University" courses for merchants on Rakuten Ichiba and "Travel College" courses for hotels affiliated with Rakuten Travel, which are both designed to provide a framework with which to create successful online shops and a channel through which to share knowhow. The seven classes in the course include lectures from Rakuten staff and representatives of local merchants and hotels, who provide students with information about the actual current state of e-commerce. The students gain actual retail experience through activities such as developing retail strategies, building online shops by creating their own websites, creating products, and engaging in actual retail activities.

The second half of the course focuses on providing students with opportunities to gain a practical understanding of e-commerce through carrying out retail activities that also promote each school's local region and practical experience in operating online shops. After the conclusion of the Rakuten IT School classes, selected students from each school are given the opportunity to participate in presentation competitions at the Rakuten Spring Conference, attended by Rakuten Ichiba merchants from all over the country, and the Rakuten Travel New Year's Conference, attended by Rakuten Travel affiliated hotels, which provides them with the opportunity to be evaluated by actual operators of hotels and online shops. This also allows the students to share between themselves their progress in their attainment of knowledge about e-commerce as well as different presentation methods.

Specific Details of Classes
・Understanding the main points of advertising products
・Lectures given by representatives of Rakuten Ichiba merchants or Rakuten Travel accommodation facilities
・Planning on marketing
・Visit to a merchant/registered facilities and practical experience at a workplace
・Start of Work on product plans/lodging plans and drafting related page
・Completion of draft of web pages
・Creation of a website and start of product sales
・Sales monitoring and web page changes based on the results

Overview of Rakuten IT School
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