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Coupang's $7.9 bil. Q1 sales set record
Coupang's office in eastern Seoul / Newsis
By Ko Dong-hwan
CEO Kim Bom credits logistics tech, Taiwan expansion for momentum
Coupang reported a record-breaking performance in the first quarter, with sales reaching 11.5 trillion won, according to its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Based on the average exchange rate for the quarter of 1,452.66 won per dollar, the figure translates to $7.9 billion.
Quarterly sales rose 21 percent compared to the same period last year.
The New York Stock Exchange-listed company also recorded earnings of 233.7 billion won during the quarter, marking a 300 percent increase from a year earlier.
The performance came after Korea's e-commerce platform giant saw its number of active users increase by 9 percent to 23.4 million from the previous year’s 21.5 million. The users include consumers who used the company’s product commerce channels, including Rocket Delivery and Rocket Fresh, and platform sellers who used channels like Rocket Growth and Marketplace.
Product commerce alone posted sales of 10 trillion won in the first quarter, a 16 percent jump from previous year. Per user, the sector saw sales of 427,000 won, a year-on-year increase of 6 percent.
Coupang Founder and CEO Kim Bom said Tuesday the company saw productive growth in the product commerce sector which led to the record performance.
“For the product commerce segment, our focus on expanding product selection, lowering prices and raising the bar on delivery experience has powered our sustained growth at high multiples of the overall Korean retail market,” he said during a conference call.
Kim also noted the boost to the company’s logistics capability during the first quarter because of technological investments. He said the company saw strong momentum in fulfillment and logistics with seller, selection and overall volumes all growing at multiples of the overall business.
“Our investment in technology, automation and robotics has generated substantial benefits across our businesses. This quarter, we saw benefits from the automated picking and sorting system and machine learning utilization that deploys inventory with more precise prediction of demand,” he said.
Kim also highlighted Coupang’s market expansion in Taiwan, where the company seeks to introduce online shopping and logistics services on par with those in Korea.
“In Taiwan, we’re making significant progress expanding our selection, forging direct relationships with local suppliers including global brands like Coke, Pepsi, P&G, as well as many local brands so important to Taiwanese customers,” Kim said.
“This helped drive our expansion of selection year-on-year by nearly 500 percent this quarter. We have launched the Wow membership program this quarter in Taiwan.”
Kim said Coupang’s luxury shopping platform Farfetch has also developed to the “next phase of expansion by streamlining both operations and customer offerings.”
The Taiwan business and Farfetch are Coupang’s "growth business" segment, which posted 1.5 trillion won in sales during the first quarter, a jump of 78 percent from the previous year.