Coupang Grows Twice as Fast as Korean eCommerce Segment

Asia-based eCommerce company Coupang, Inc. on Friday (Nov. 12) said its third-quarter net revenue for the period ending Sept. 30 was $4.6 billion, up 48% from the same time a year earlier, and its 44% constant currency revenue growth was more than double the 20% of the overall Korean eCommerce segment.

Active customers for Coupang grew at least 20% year-over-year for the 15th consecutive quarter, and Q3 spending grew at least 25% year-over-year for every annual customer cohort back to 2010. Active customers buying across six or more Coupang categories doubled in Q3 compared to 2019.

Coupang’s gross margin expanded 130 basis points year-over-year to 16.2%, and the company’s gross profit increased 62% from the same time in 2020 to $755 million. Coupang invested about $95 million in incremental labor and operational costs, mostly due to the increase in COVID-19 cases and heightened restrictions in Korea during the quarter, but advertising revenue almost tripled in those three months.

Through the first nine months of 2021, Coupang added 8 million square feet of infrastructure, equaling the total square footage the company has added since its inception through 2020. The driver in the increase was the fresh grocery Rocket Fresh fulfillment center, which is up 90% for the year.

The Coupang Eats app is the most downloaded mobile app for iOS and the second-most downloaded mobile app for Android in Korea this year through September.

Coupang’s selection of small and medium-sized merchants jumped 276% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2021. About 80% of the company’s merchants and suppliers are small and medium-sized businesses, and 86% of its offerings come from SMBs.

This year, Coupang initiated a small-business assistance program that will provide KRW 400 billion (about $340 million) to small business owners, farmers and livestock farmers for online growth and plans to open 10 additional fulfillment centers across Korea at a cost of $1.3 billion, creating 13,000 new jobs to help grow their businesses online in collaboration with the federal and local governments.

Related: Payoneer, Coupang Team on South Korea eCommerce

Last month, Coupang teamed up with commerce technology company Payoneer to provide more opportunities to sell in South Korea, combining Payoneer’s tech and expertise with Coupang’s payments capabilities to offer Coupang sellers access to better payments for cross-border business.

Coupang has more than 17 million customers and has generated $15.6 billion in the past 12 months. Payoneer’s ecosystem stretches across China, Germany, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S.