On the 24th at 4 p.m., Banwol National Industrial Complex, Danwon District, Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. Stepping onto the second floor of the gray-walled Kurly Ansan logistics center (FSC), a chill set in. The FSC's refrigerated and frozen warehouses are kept at 2.8 degrees Celsius and minus 20 degrees Celsius, respectively. Temperature sensors installed throughout record data 24 hours a day. Storage, delivery, and packaging proceed at the optimal temperature for each product. The amount of cold packs used for packaging is automatically adjusted every two weeks to keep freshness while minimizing waste.
This is not a simple consignment warehouse. It is a key hub for Naver's "N dawn delivery," and a forward base that extends Kurly's fresh-delivery know-how into 3PL (third-party logistics). 3PL is a service in which a manufacturer or seller outsources the entire logistics process to an external specialist. It is a form that provides integrated agency services from receiving, storage, picking, and packaging to shipping and delivery, not just storage. Since last month, Naver has begun selling major Smart Store items such as fresh foods via dawn delivery through Kurly's logistics subsidiary, Nextmile.
The Kurly Ansan logistics center precisely separates ambient, refrigerated, and frozen zones. It is equipped with an end-to-end temperature tracking system that allows temperature control by product. For shipping, refrigerated and frozen vehicles are automatically dispatched. Temperature-sensitive items such as frozen seafood, dairy, and produce can also be shipped in an integrated way per single order. Kurly goes beyond simple refrigerated and frozen delivery to perform storage, packaging, and transport tailored to the optimal temperature for each product. Based on a packaging databases (DB) built over 10 years, packaging materials automatically switch by season (general, summer, winter). Coolants and insulators developed by the packaging research and development (R&D) center secure both efficiency and eco-friendliness.
In addition, it provides a "one-stop logistics solution" that handles everything in-house from receiving to shipping and returns. Sellers can run fresh, frozen, and ambient products in an integrated way with a single contract. A real-time demand forecasting system responds even when orders surge during promotions. The on-time arrival rate for N dawn delivery operated by Nextmile is 99.7%. It runs 363 days a year, except for Lunar New Year's Day and Chuseok day.
Kurly's 3PL service opens its full cold chain infrastructure and information technology (IT) logistics system to external sellers, allowing small brands and Smart Store sellers to implement "Kurly-level fresh delivery." Sellers can handle both sales and logistics on platforms such as Naver even without their own online mall. Kurly secures external volume to raise utilization and reduce unit logistics costs.
Collaboration with Naver is a chance to scale this structure industrially. Early this month, Kurly opened "Kurly N Mart" on Naver Plus Store, welcoming 40 million Naver users as new customers. Nextmile joined the Naver Fulfillment Alliance (NFA) to provide refrigerated and frozen delivery to Smart Store sellers. Kim Seul-a, Kurly's CEO, said, "Small business owners without delivery infrastructure can be guaranteed the same quality of full cold chain delivery as Kurly," adding, "Through economies of scale, both companies will be able to increase sales and improve finances."
Kurly has built automated logistics centers at key bases in the Seoul metropolitan area, including Pyeongtaek (72.5 billion won) and Gimpo (30 billion won). Although it completed a cold chain that integrates the entire refrigerated and frozen process, it needed to expand freight volume to improve profitability. Collaboration with Naver was a practical solution to raise utilization. Items sorted and packaged at the Ansan logistics center are connected to Kurly's nationwide logistics network, enabling efficient delivery focused on Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Chungcheong.
Kurly's revenue structure is centered on product sales, but diversification is progressing with the expansion of 3PL. The share of product sales in total revenue fell from 99.8% in 2022 to 98.2% in the first half of this year. During the same period, the share of other segments (including logistics and consignment) rose from 0.2% to 1.8%. In the first half of this year, Kurly posted 1.1595 trillion won in revenue and 3.1 billion won in operating profit, marking its first profit since its founding. First-half 3PL transaction value rose 59.4% from a year earlier.
Lee Gwang-yong, head of the Ansan FSC, said, "Kurly's full cold chain technology is concentrated in the Ansan logistics center," adding, "Sellers that join Naver and others can experience the same delivery quality as Kurly's dawn delivery for fresh products." He went on, "We will advance a customized delivery system tailored to product characteristics based on the logistics data we have accumulated."