Rakuten France, the online marketplace formerly known as PriceMinister, is actively looking for a buyer. If no purchaser steps forward, the platform will shut down before the end of this year. The company has seen steep declines in both traffic and active customers over the past decade.
PriceMinister was founded in 2000 and became a dominant force in French ecommerce, briefly surpassing eBay in market share. The Japanese conglomerate Rakuten Group acquired it in 2010 for 200 million euros. At the time, the deal was positioned as a major step toward challenging Amazon in Europe.
Things did not go as planned. By 2016, the valuation of the French marketplace had been written down to 65 million euros — roughly a third of the original purchase price. In 2018, Rakuten dropped the PriceMinister brand entirely, rebranding the site under its own name.
Related: Zalando partners with Vestiaire Collective
Traffic and customers are both down sharply
Rakuten launched its Club R cashback program in 2018, offering customers a 5 percent discount on purchases from partner brands through Club R Everywhere. The loyalty initiative did not stop the decline. Since 2016, the number of active customers has fallen by 33 percent. Traffic over the same period dropped 42 percent.
According to reporters, Rakuten France averaged 9.5 million unique monthly visitors in the third quarter of 2025. During the same quarter, Amazon drew 38.8 million and Cdiscount had 15.5 million. The gap in market share is wide.
Employee representatives were informed in April that the company was seeking a buyer. That news was confirmed publicly last week. If no deal emerges, the marketplace will begin closing in the third quarter of this year. The closure would affect 180 employees.
Related: Tips for Caring for a Good and Correct Car
Investment bank brought in to manage sale
The Rakuten Group has hired investment bank Carlsquare to oversee the sales process. According to the report, Carlsquare has already received expressions of interest. Potential buyers that have been named include Fnac-Darty, Leclerc, Auchan, and Cdiscount. It is not clear if any of them have made formal offers.
This is not the first time Rakuten has pulled out of a European market. In 2020, Rakuten Germany announced it would close. It has also shut down its marketplaces in Spain, the United Kingdom, and Austria. Rakuten France was the last one still operating in the region. For context, similar dynamics have been observed in other retail sectors, such as JD eyes Very Group takeover bid.
One thing worth watching is whether a French retailer or marketplace operator sees value in acquiring the platform’s existing customer base and technology, rather than building from scratch. The 180 employees and the site’s infrastructure are part of what a buyer would get. But the steadily declining numbers suggest the asset has lost much of its former luster.