"Korean Amazon" Coupang will enter Japan? Major shareholder SoftBank: Misinformation

On March 29, media reported that SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son said the group is considering introducing the services of South Korean e-commerce company Coupang to Japan . However, according to Yonhap News Agency, SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son denied the rumor.

Coupang, a South Korean e-commerce company , is also known as the "Amazon of Korea" and is often compared to Amazon and Alibaba. In fact, in March this year , Coupang went public on the New York Stock Exchange , becoming the largest IPO of an Asian company on a US exchange since Alibaba went public in 2014 .

According to the price-to-sales ratio at the time of listing, Coupang ranks second only to Alibaba, higher than Amazon, EAby and JD.com, and ranks second among global e-commerce companies . For such an e-commerce company with its own halo, we can also take a look at its step-by-step rise in South Korea.

As early as 2000, eBay had entered the Korean market and has been firmly in the C position as the big brother. Until the establishment of Coupang in 2010 , Coupang started with group buying and coupons, which was basically similar to the model of Meituan. In 2012 , Coupang transformed into an e-commerce company. Relying on its service and logistics, Coupang quickly won the favor of consumers.

After Coupang went public , its rapid growth has forced the Korean Internet giant Naver to be cautious . Here we have to talk about the magic weapon that Coupang used to win the hearts of the people : the self-operated logistics service "Rocket Delivery". Now , Coupang is the second largest B2C logistics company in South Korea, with more than 100 self-built logistics centers and more than 15,000 drivers. In early March this year , China became the second country after the United States to open Coupang's overseas direct purchase business .

The initial investment in Coupang was seen as SoftBank replicating its successful investment in Alibaba. In previous media reports, SoftBank Group's Internet business unit Z Holdings was considering introducing Korean e-commerce company Coupang to Japan . SoftBank does have experience in successfully introducing foreign technology to Japan, such as the early launch of the Yahoo Japan portal and the recently rapidly developing payment application PayPay .

However , SoftBank Group's internet business unit Z Holdings reportedly completed the merger of Yahoo Japan and Line this month. Z Holdings operates the PayPay Mall shopping site , which is currently competing with Amazon and Rakuten in the e-commerce field.

At the same time, Coupang is also in the midst of various controversies. Whether it is the previous counterfeit storm or the temporary employee controversy, it shows that this fast-growing e-commerce company still has some problems to solve. The original meaning of the foreign network report should be that SoftBank is considering providing services similar to the Korean e-commerce Coupang in Japan .

Coupang

SoftBank