eCommerce in South Korea: Coupang

Coupang: Key Insights

• China Leads, South Korea Rises: China holds the first place in Asian eCommerce with US$2.2 trillion in revenue, while South Korea emerges to its biggest rival in this area.

• Coupang's South Korean Triumph: Coupang dominates South Korea's eCommerce market, dubbed the "Amazon of South Korea," with a GMV of US$49.7 billion in 2023 and a sustained growth prognoses.

• Challenging Marketplace Landscape: South Korea boasts a diverse range of local marketplaces, challenging international giants like Alibaba, with Coupang leading followed by Naver, Gmarket, and Kakao.

• Rapid Growth: Coupang's GMV surges nearly fivefold over five years, reaching US$49.7 billion in 2023, among other things due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Asia is a flourishing eCommerce region, particularly known for its vibrant online marketplace landscape. Four of the top five marketplaces by total GMV in the world are based in Asia. Besides Pinduoduo and JD.com, both companies of the Chinese tech giant Alibaba – Taobao and Tmall – are also among the top five. Together, Alibaba’s main marketplaces generated a total GMV of over US$1.1 trillion in 2023.

In the ECDB country ranking, China leads the Asian eCommerce market by far, holding US$2.2 trillion in revenue. Its biggest rival here is the South Korean eCommerce market, following, with US$139.8 billion in revenue.

Coupang Leaves Alibaba Group
Far Behind

By taking a closer look at South Korea's online marketplace ranking, it becomes clear that South Korean companies dominate their local market over Chinese competitors.

South Korea – the fourth biggest eCommerce market in 2023 after China, United States and United Kingdom – has one very strong local marketplace: Often referred to as the "Amazon of South Korea", Coupang, Inc. has surpassed the GMV of Taobao in the South Korean market.

In second place comes the marketplace Naver with US$27.6 billion, followed by Gmarket and Kakao holding US$7 billion and US$6.6 billion as GMV for 2023. One of the Alibaba marketplaces mentioned earlier, Taobao, only shows up at number 5 with US$5.6 billion in GMV.

Top 5 is followed by marketplaces that have South Korea as their main country: 11Street (US$5 billion), SSG.com (US$4.8 billion), Wemakeprice (US$4.1 billion), and Lotte (US$3.4 billion). Alibaba's Tmall rounds out the ranking with a GMV of $3.3 billion in 2023.

Coupang GMV: Near Fivefold Since 2019

The company went public in New York in March 2021 and soared 40% on its first day of trading, making it one of the largest IPO (initial public offering) so far on the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) in that year. Among the investors are well-known stock experts like Bill Gates.

The company also sets itself apart in the market with its sophisticated delivery structures. With its “rocket shipping” program, Coupang has an in-house delivery system, which makes the company independent from third-party services and enables it to deliver orders within 24 hours. Coupang’s GMV development over the years is also impressive:

Coupang was able to increase yearly GMV amounts impressively over the past few years. While Coupang processed US$10.8 billion worth of purchases in 2019, GMV has increased nearly fivefold in just 5 years, reaching $49.7 billion by 2023.

Of course, the Corona years 2020 and 2021 were especially strong ones, bringing along an impressive 86% year-on-year growth in 2020 and 75.1% in 2021 for Coupang. For the next years, ECDB expects growth to continue, with 17.7% YoY growth for 2024 reaching US$58.4 billion in GMV.

Sources: ECDB, secondary sources in the referenced articles