Rakuten Case Study: How Human Translation Boosted Rakuten’s Conversion Rates

Which converts customers better, human or machine translation? As an experiment, leading Japanese online retailer Rakuten translated the same 250 product listings using both methods. The result? Lionbridge (formerly Gengo) created higher-quality listings that significantly boosted Rakuten’s conversion rates (CVR).

Low Cost, High Return

Translating 250 listings cost Rakuten less than $10 per listing. This small investment, however, resulted in an incredible $83,000+ in increased sales—a small price for a massive payoff.

Simple and Swift

All 250 product listings were translated and up on Rakuten’s site in less than 48 hours with minimal effort. Translating high-volume content via API makes updating multilingual listings seamless.