Rakuten's market research arm ventures into Malaysia

Rakuten Insight Global, Inc., a wholly-owned online market research subsidiary of Rakuten, Inc., has expanded its operations in Asia by venturing into Malaysia. Rakuten Insight Malaysia is based in Kuala Lumpur and will be led by former associate director at Nielsen Collin Leow.According to his LinkedIn, Leow was with Nielsen for approximately two years and worked at GfK for about 14 years. Rakuten Insight Malaysia is its eleventh location and eighth office in Asia, representing the company's "deep involvement" in Asia and the pursuit of local expertise. The new office will allow Rakuten Insight to work more closely with its clients in Malaysia and the region, functioning as a local point of contact for Malaysian clients. It will also act as an off-shore market research hub to drive business development and offer multilingual and multifunctional operational support for clients based across Southeast Asia.Malaysia holds a strategic position in Southeast Asia with over 140,000 online research members, according to Rakuten Insight. Moving forward, Rakuten Insight looks to continue meeting the demand for market research in Southeast Asia and accelerate the enhancement of its proprietary panel, while leveraging the unique opportunities that are provided through the Rakuten ecosystem in the Asian market.Atsushi Tamura, CEO of Rakuten Insight said the move is another step in its commitment to offer clients across Asia with "impactful online market research". “The addition of our Malaysia office will also allow us better access to a country that shows exceptional growth potential for our business," he added.(Photo courtesy: 123RF)