Korean e-commerce turns outward amid China's pressing market incursion
South Korean e-commerce players are going global not just to offset muted domestic consumption, but also in part to hedge against China's aggressive advance on their home turf.
Their international forays come at a time when global fascination with K-food, K-beauty and K-fashion is running high.
One successful market entry is that of e-commerce giant Coupang, which has been doubling down on Taiwan since entering the market in 2021, already investing nearly 500 billion won ($367 million) in logistics infrastructure and product sourcing.
Earlier this year, the company launched its Rocket Delivery membership in Taiwan while expanding its local delivery network.
In the first quarter, the company posted net revenue of over $1 billion in its Developing Offerings segment, which includes its international business, Coupang Eats, Coupang Play and luxury platform Farfetch, marking a 78 percent on-year surge on an FX-neutral basis.
Coupang said its growth businesses, particularly its operations in Taiwan, helped drive the increase in earnings.
'We're seeing an increase in repeat customer rates and spending in Taiwan,' Coupang founder and CEO Bom Kim said during an earnings call in May. He added that the more the company invests in the Taiwanese market, the stronger its confidence grows.
In January, Coupang re-entered the Japanese market with its food delivery app, Rocket Now, after withdrawing from the country in 2023, this time with a renewed focus on food delivery rather than quick commerce.
Other e-commerce companies are also testing the waters. For instance, Kurly plans to begin beta testing its US operations this Tuesday, gathering feedback from local residents on its shopping and delivery services in preparation for a full-scale launch.
'Based on the results of the pilot service, we will adjust our logistics operations and our entry plans,' a Kurly official said.
Fashion platform Musinsa is pressing ahead in Japan and China. After establishing its Japanese subsidiary in 2021, it set up its Chinese unit this April.
Musinsa CEO Park Joon-mo said that the company will open its first brick-and-mortar store in Shanghai in the second half of this year and roll out physical stores in Japan by the first half of next year.
The impetus to enter global markets stems partly from the rapid encroachment of Chinese platforms like AliExpress and Temu, combined with a stark slowdown at home -- domestic online shopping growth plunged to the 5 percent range last year, down from 20.2 percent in 2021, according to Statistics Korea.
'While Chinese platforms have faced recurring quality and privacy concerns, there remains a stable base of demand in Korea,' one industry insider noted. 'Domestic growth is nearing its limits, and the influence of China's price-first platforms is growing rapidly.
As of February, AliExpress ranked second in general e-commerce app usage with 8.73 million monthly active users, followed by Temu in third with 7.84 million, both trailing only Coupang, according to WiseApp data.
Worse yet for Korean e-commerce firms, JD.com, one of China's leading platforms alongside AliExpress and Temu, opened two self-operated logistics centers in Korea in April, the first instance of a Chinese e-commerce company owning warehouses on Korean soil.
Chinese lifestyle brand Miniso, often regarded as China's equivalent to Korean dollar store chain Daiso, has been making a comeback since last December, most recently opening a flagship store near Seoul's Gangnam Station in June.
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