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| Coupang CEO Kim Bom / Courtesy of Coupang |
By Kim Jae-heun
Coupang became Korea's No.1 online retailer in the first quarter of 2020 surpassing eBay Korea's Gmarket according to Nielson Korea, which collected data on the business performance of online shopping firms up to the first week of March.
The market research firm said Coupang led the market with a share of 24.6 percent, up 6.5 percentage points from the same period last year.
Gmarket's market share also increased from 19.1 percent to 19.7 percent but it failed to match Coupang and yielded the top position.
Retail business analyzing service WISEAPP/WISERETAIL noted that in February, Coupang's turnover recorded 1.63 trillion won, surpassing the 1.44 trillion won of eBay Korea.
Coupang's "Rocket Delivery" service played a pivotal role in improving its business performance amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has led people to self-quarantine at home.
Coupang is the only firm that can deliver orders in half a day and the service has attracted many customers who want fresh food ingredients to cook at home to choose it over other online shopping malls. It delivers in the mornings and on Sundays orders made the day before.
Competitors have also started delivery services in the early morning too, but because their logistical systems are not well-established outside the capital area, they cannot provide a complete quick service option.
Coupang's daily orders have doubled since the spread of COVID-19 and recorded a peak 3.3 million, Jan. 28. Since then, the company has been delivering an average of 3 million orders a day.
The firm's sales are expected to have grown by 50 percent to 60 percent last year, reaching up to 7 trillion won from 4.42 trillion won in 2018.
However, Coupang has also registered big losses, which have been growing alongside the sales every year. Last year, it recorded a 1.09 trillion won deficit.
Nonetheless, Coupang said it will continue to invest in expanding its logistics and building more distribution centers.
"We may run into more red figures because labor costs and delivery expense are up. But we will continue to stick to our plan of providing the same delivery service to our customers across the country," a Coupang official said.
Despite its rise to the top in the online shopping market here, its largest investor Masayoshi Son of SoftBank is facing setbacks with the failures of Uber and WeWork, which he also invested in.
Coupang too has to turn a profit soon as has its minor competitor T-mon, which achieved earnings of 160 million won last month.
