Amazing! South Korean e-commerce giant's annual sales exceeded 200 billion yuan

Ranked firmly in the first place, Coupang has delivered a satisfactory answer for 2024.

As one of the largest e-commerce platforms in South Korea , Coupang occupies an important position in the Korean e-commerce market with its high-quality delivery services, rich product categories and huge user base, and has always been the first choice for Korean consumers to shop.

Judging from the overall e-commerce market environment in South Korea, the transaction volume of e-commerce in South Korea will hit a new high in 2024. According to data previously released by Global Data, the total value of the South Korean e-commerce market is expected to reach 164.3 trillion won (about 821.5 billion yuan) in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 10.2%.

In the next four years, South Korea's e-commerce market is expected to continue to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 7.8%. By 2028, the market size is expected to reach 222.1 trillion won (about 111.05 billion yuan).

The above data are enough to show the development potential of the Korean e-commerce market in the next few years.

In addition, Korean consumers have a high frequency of online shopping, ranking among the top in the world, and the user penetration rate will gradually increase from 64.1% in 2024 to 76.7% in 2029. This shows that Korean consumers' preference for online shopping is increasing, which will also help promote the positive development of the e-commerce market.

Coupang took first place last year.

In December last year , when sales of other e-commerce platforms in South Korea showed declines to varying degrees, Coupang still topped the list and successfully won the first place in the South Korean e-commerce platform sales ranking .

Specifically, in December last year , Coupang's sales were expected to reach 3.23 trillion won (about 16.15 billion yuan) , ranking first in the industry and with a large gap from the second place.

Other rankings are Gmarket ( 387.5 billion won ), CJ OnStyle ( 300.3 billion won ), 11th Street (284.5 billion won), GS Shop (281.2 billion won), SSG.com (267.8 billion won), Hyundai Home Shopping (130.3 billion won), Auction (113.8 billion won), AliExpress (113.3 billion won) , and Lotte Home Shopping ( 89.7 billion won).

It is worth mentioning that Coupang not only ranks among the top in sales, but also has a repurchase rate of up to 83% , surpassing a number of local platforms .

Coupang is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It has been established for 15 years. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in March 2021 and has developed into the largest e-commerce platform in South Korea .

In terms of performance, in 2023, Coupang ended its 13-year loss-making state and began to make profits.

In 2024 , Coupang gained both fame and fortune. First, it successfully made it onto the 2024 Global Top 500 Brand Value List, jumping 37 places compared to the previous year. It is also the only e-commerce platform in South Korea to be on the list, and its popularity has increased again.

Secondly, in 2024, Coupang achieved the highest annual sales in the history of the Korean retail market , exceeding 40 trillion won (about 200 billion yuan) for the first time. It is expected that Coupang 's profitability will continue in 2025 .

While turning losses into profits, Coupang has also continued to increase its investment in areas of strength, such as upgrading logistics and delivery services.

Speed ​​up delivery to meet market challenges

One of Coupang’s strengths is its efficient logistics and delivery service. As early as 2014, Coupang had already launched its “fast delivery” service, which shows how much it values ​​logistics and delivery timeliness and improving consumers’ shopping experience.

After 10 years of hard work, Coupang 's logistics and delivery services are now well-received. Not long ago, Coupang also announced that it would continue to expand the coverage of its rocket delivery service.

It is reported that Coupang plans to invest 2.4 trillion won (about 12 billion yuan) to increase logistics, in order to achieve the ambitious goal of "rocket delivery to 50 million people" by 2027 , almost covering the entire Korean market.

In 2025, Coupang will also open new logistics centers and continue to advance its logistics infrastructure construction, taking its "rocket delivery" service to a new level.

By 2026, Coupang will have 9 logistics centers in South Korea, and its investment in logistics alone will total 9 trillion won (about 45 billion yuan).

By 2027, Coupang's "rocket delivery" service may cover about 88% of South Korea's cities and counties, reaching 230, while the current number has reached 182, accounting for about 70%.

Logistics has always been a trump card of Coupang. It continues to invest heavily in the logistics field, constantly improves the construction of logistics infrastructure, and improves the logistics network. It plays this trump card to the extreme, further consolidates its market advantages, and is able to cope with the fierce market competition with ease.

Competition in various markets is fierce, and South Korea is no exception. South Korea's more influential e-commerce platforms, such as Coupang, Naver, 11st Street, and Gmarket , are all shining in their respective fields.

If Coupang became popular with its "rocket delivery" service, then Naver, as South Korea's largest search engine and portal website, has a huge user base and accounts for most of South Korea's Internet search traffic. Its e-commerce business is currently developing rapidly and has become its second largest source of income after the search business.

Data shows that in 2024, Naver's e-commerce business sales reached 2.15 trillion won (about 10.75 billion yuan), and the total GMV exceeded 50 trillion won (about 250 billion yuan).

Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms are popular in South Korea

Not only has the internal competition among South Korea's local e-commerce platforms intensified, but Chinese e-commerce platforms have also been drawn into South Korea, their influence in South Korea is growing, and they have successfully gotten a piece of the pie.

Cross-border e-commerce platforms from China, such as AliExpress and Temu, performed well in Korea last year. With their rich product categories and price advantages, they have won the favor of many Korean consumers.

Data shows that as of November 2024 , Temu's cumulative new downloads reached 18.04 million times, making it the application with the highest number of new downloads among adults in South Korea in 2024. AliExpress ranked fifth with 6.58 million times .

In December last year , Temu topped the list of newly downloaded apps in South Korea, with 1.177 million new installations. This is not the first time that Temu has topped the list of the most newly downloaded apps in South Korea, indicating that Temu's popularity in South Korea continues to increase.

According to data as of November last year , the total number of new downloads from the two major Chinese e-commerce platforms, Temu and AliExpress, is close to half of the total population of South Korea, which shows how great their influence is .

In addition, the overseas direct purchase sector is particularly worth mentioning. Among the source countries of overseas direct purchases in South Korea in 2024, products from China performed particularly well, accounting for 60% of the total overseas direct purchase transactions in South Korea, and the growth rate reached 48%, far exceeding other markets, which fully reflects the degree of love of Korean consumers for Chinese products.

In 2024, the total amount of online shopping transactions in South Korea set a new record. In the future, with the development of the e-commerce market, the value and potential of South Korea's e-commerce market will be further revealed .

Coupang

South Korea