Naver's overseas revenue in the first half of this year topped 1 trillion won for the first time. While domestic revenue rose 14% from a year earlier, overseas revenue increased 30%. North American fashion consumer-to-consumer (C2C) platform Poshmark lifted U.S. revenue, and Spanish secondhand platform Wallapop was newly reflected in Europe revenue. Regional C2C platforms acquired by Naver are emerging as a new pillar of overseas business growth.
◇ Overseas revenue growth rate doubles domestic
On the 20th, ChosunBiz's analysis of Naver's semiannual report showed overseas revenue—combining Japan, the United States, and other regions—totaled 1.1069 trillion won in the first half. That was up 30% from the same period last year (851.4 billion won), surpassing 1 trillion won on a half-year basis for the first time.
During the same period, domestic revenue rose 13.9% from 4.8505 trillion won to 5.5229 trillion won. The overseas revenue growth rate outpaced domestic by twofold. The share of overseas revenue in total revenue also increased 1.8 percentage points (P), from 14.9% to 16.7%.
The United States led the increase in overseas revenue. Revenue from U.S.-based entities rose 41.2% from 263.1 billion won in the first half of last year to 371.6 billion won this year. The increase of 108.5 billion won accounted for 42.5% of the total overseas revenue gain (255.5 billion won). Naver said growth at Poshmark and others drove the increase in U.S. revenue.
Poshmark is a North American fashion C2C platform where users photograph and buy and sell clothes, shoes, and bags directly. By combining social media functions with fashion secondhand transactions, it built a user base mainly in the United States and Canada. After acquiring Poshmark for about $1.2 billion (about 1.5 trillion won) in 2023, Naver applied artificial intelligence (AI) image search and product recommendation technologies and revamped the business structure. According to Naver, Poshmark's second-quarter revenue this year rose more than 40% from a year earlier as purchase conversion and purchase frequency increased on improved AI search and recommendation quality.
Growth in other regions, including Europe, was even steeper. Revenue from regions excluding the United States and Japan increased 131.3%, from 61.6 billion won in the first half of last year to 142.4 billion won this year. Wallapop, whose acquisition was completed in January and which was included in consolidation, had a large impact.
Wallapop is a Spain-based local platform for transactions of secondhand goods across daily life, including mobile phones, appliances, furniture, and cars. After consolidation, Wallapop added 87.6 billion won in revenue and 5.6 billion won in net profit to Naver's first-half results. Naver said Wallapop's revenue was reflected in the other revenue category for the European region.
◇ Japan's share declines and C2C surges… overseas revenue pillars diversify
Japan, which had been the core of overseas revenue, also grew, but by a smaller margin than the United States and other regions. Revenue from Japan-based entities increased 12.6%, from 526.7 billion won in the first half of last year to 592.9 billion won this year.
Japan's share of total overseas revenue fell from 61.9% to 53.6%, while the combined share of the United States and other regions rose from 38.1% to 46.4%. Naver's overseas revenue base is dispersing from Japan to North America and Europe.
Growth in the C2C business underpins this shift. Naver's C2C revenue in the second quarter, including Poshmark, Wallapop, Soda, and Kream, was 397.9 billion won, up 74.9% from a year earlier. Even excluding the Wallapop inclusion effect, it rose 52.1%. However, this figure is total C2C revenue including domestic operations such as Kream and is not the amount for overseas revenue alone. Naver did not disclose the specific amounts Poshmark and Wallapop contributed to revenue in their respective regions.