Did consumers really quit Coupang? In late Nov. last year, after a massive leak of consumer personal information, Coupang's data protection policies and more became a hot topic, and social pressure mounted to leave Coupang over Data Sovereignty.
Three months on, the e-commerce industry says there was no complete "talp-ang" (quitting Coupang). Still, it sees some cracks as consumers try to lower their reliance on Coupang. A retail industry official said, "It means consumers move based on practicality, and the era of moving emotionally is over."
According to the retail industry on the 6th, Coupang's user numbers and payment amounts have slightly decreased over the past three months. According to Mobile Index, a data analytics solution operated by IGAworks, Coupang's monthly active users (MAU) in Dec. last year were 34.85 million. That was a slight increase from Nov. (34.42 million). The figure dipped to 34.01 million in Jan., but the prevailing judgment is that it is hard to see this as a sign of "talp-ang."
A retail industry official said, "Some people likely logged in temporarily because of the massive personal information leak, and consumers visited for various purposes, so it is hard to gauge 'talp-ang' based on active users."
The most accurate metric is the trend in Coupang Wow membership. The membership offers Rocket Delivery, free returns, and Coupang Play. As of the end of 2023, the number of subscribers was known to be around 14 million. While Coupang used to disclose Wow membership numbers with each earnings release, it stopped doing so starting with the 2024 results, seeing membership as having reached a plateau.
Peers in e-commerce believe Coupang Wow membership has not declined. Some consumers may have joined for Coupang Play, and there is a clear trend of not subscribing to only one platform membership. Generally, households can maintain multiple subscriptions if each is under 10,000 won per month. A person familiar with Coupang said, "After the personal information leak, only minor changes have been observed. It is hard to find any link showing that withdrawals reduced the number of subscribers."
However, the average payment amount appears to have declined slightly. As of Nov., Coupang's payment amount was around 148.6 billion won, which slipped into the 140 billion won range in Dec. and fell to 139.2 billion won in Jan. Considering year-end gift demand, the number of payment actions itself decreased. The retail industry is focusing on this, seeing it as consumers who once looked only to Coupang now reducing their reliance.
Some competitors are enjoying windfall gains in the process. Naver Store is a prime example. According to Mobile Index, Naver Plus Store's users surged. New installs in Jan. this year were 935,507, up 18.7% from Dec. last year (788,119). MAU also rose 10.6% in the same period, from 6,299,629 to 6,965,364.
SSG.com also appears to have benefited. According to SSG.com, in Jan. this year, the number of consumers who had no "Sseuk Delivery" order history for over a year but placed an order jumped 70% year over year. First-time Sseuk Delivery members also increased 50%.
Gmarket's transaction amount in Jan. this year rose 10% from the previous month. That is the first time in about three years since 2023. A prolonged decline in transaction amounts appears to have turned around thanks to Coupang. "Star Delivery," a next-day service positioned against Coupang's Rocket Delivery, saw its transaction amount rise 22% year over year. Weekend-arrival orders placed on weekends also increased 23% from a year earlier. Lotte ON is seeing more traffic mainly in apparel, while Kurly is seeing more in food ingredients.
Accordingly, the retail industry is betting on locking in continuity. A retail industry official said, "We have not forgotten the brief boost we enjoyed as Tmon and WeMakePrice disappeared," adding, "We are working to provide incentives in various ways so consumers keep using our channels."
Cracks are appearing in Coupang's world, which rapidly took over the market under the slogan "How did we live without Coupang?" Coupang said the previous day that, in the course of investigating the massive personal information leak, it confirmed that personal information from more than 165,000 accounts had been additionally leaked.
In Dec. last year, Coupang said in its own findings that the information leaker accessed basic customer information for about 33 million customer accounts but saved the customer information of only about 3,000 accounts, yet additional leaks have now been confirmed. With the earnings release of U.S.-based Coupang Inc., Coupang's parent company, approaching, attention is on whether the rise and fall of e-commerce will be rewritten.