

Buy.com renamed Rakuten Shopping: brilliant branding or massive mistake? - Terretta
http://www.rakuten.com/ct/aboutus.aspx

======
Terretta
I find myself thinking twice to remember the name even just a few minutes
after being surprised by it. When I tell people about it, they can't tell how
it's spelled from pronunciation alone, and they can't remember it two minutes
after the conversation.

I spoke with a US based employee who seemed none too thrilled about the
decision, but says this is an effort by Japan's largest e-commerce company
(and one of largest worldwide) to build global brand recognition.

More on Rakuten Ichiba here: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakuten>

~~~
Terretta
The rename did get me to give buy.com a new try. I found something I couldn't
find on Amazon there, and spent $300 on it. And two weeks later, I do remember
the name. So, going with "brilliant".

HN is discussing this change in this 17 Feb submission:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5234987>

------
marssaxman
Brilliant branding: I had no idea that buy.com still existed, or that anyone
still cared. I'm sure I'll have forgotten again within another day, but in the
meantime this is more attention than I've paid them in a decade.

