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| Coupang CEO Kim Bom speaks at a press conference at Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of Coupang |
By Bahk Eun-ji
Coupang, a leading electronic commerce company, said Tuesday it is not afraid of inroads by Amazon.com and other global online retailers into Korea as it can effectively compete with them.
Its CEO Kim Bom also said it will start services delivering products within two hours after an order for daily products is placed online.
Amazon will reportedly enter the Korean market soon. Industry watchers say if Amazon does so, it will dominate the e-commerce sector, as it has already experienced success in Japan.
Korean customers have already got used to purchasing various goods online, and it is one of the world's most wired countries.
"We are not afraid of competition even with global giants. What we are afraid of is only to disappoint our customers who might end up turning their backs on us," Kim said at a press conference.
He expressed confidence in attracting more customers regardless of the domestic presence of global retail giants.
"We've already secured loyal customers with our differentiated services such as Coupangmen that Amazon.com doesn't have. We are ready to compete."
"Coupangmen" are its staffers who are in charge of delivery.
He said it will soon launch a service which delivers goods related to babies such as diapers and powdered formula within 2 hours to customers living in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, in the first half of the year.
He said the company is restructuring into a "direct commerce" company from a social commerce one.
"Coupang is not a service relying on a social network. This direct commerce platform is real e-commerce, providing speedy and accurate services," Kim said.
He explained that Coupang takes care of all the proceedings of e-commerce, from selling to delivery.
The company runs 7 distribution centers and 1,000 pick-up trucks to offer faster delivery services.
"Employees deliver goods that represent the company, and give a good first impression to our customers. Coupang provides a differentiated service through the coupangmen system," Kim said.
Coupang's distribution infrastructure and staffers that are fully committed to delivery make the service possible, the CEO said.
"We've constructed a business model where we fully handle the whole process of shopping ― from sales to delivery. We are also directly buying products to sell them to consumers," he said.
Coupang has raised $100 million in a round of financing from investors such as Sequoia Capital, one of the largest American venture capital firms.
It has made aggressive investment to expand and reorganize services since then.
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