The domestic e-commerce industry's big discount sale competition, long concentrated in November, is spilling into May. With Gmarket and Auction having already made large-scale May shopping events a fixture, 11Street and Coupang are also expanding the scale of their May promotions. As May—when demand for gifts for Family Month meets early-summer spending—emerges as the peak shopping period of the first half, e-commerce companies' discount events are broadening into twin pillars for the first and second halves.
According to the retail industry on the 14th, Gmarket and Auction are holding the first-half "Big Smile Day" from the 6th to the 19th of this month. Big Smile Day has been the marquee discount event held twice each year, in May and November, since 2017. Gmarket and Auction are showcasing special deals across all categories—home appliances, food, fashion, furniture, and travel—and have built the May sale into the platforms' flagship event.
This year's event is even bigger. About 31,000 sellers, the most ever, are participating in this Big Smile Day, and 1,000 products were selected for the steepest discounts of the year. The "Sold Out Show," a live-commerce shopping program featuring celebrities, is also tied in to lift the event's momentum. This year's Big Smile Day surpassed 10 million cumulative visitors two days after kickoff and is aiming for a total of 30 million visitors.
Recently, other e-commerce companies have joined the May discount trend. 11Street is holding its first-half flagship shopping festival, "Grand Sipiljeol," from the 6th to the 16th of this month.
Grand Sipiljeol is 11Street's signature promotion that has been held every November since its 2008 launch. Starting last year, 11Street expanded the event to twice a year, in May and November. The strategy is to extend its flagship event into the first half and capture May shopping demand. During last year's first-half Grand Sipiljeol, about 22 million customers visited over 11 days, and cumulative live-broadcast views reached 19 million.
Coupang is also scaling its May event into a comprehensive discount sale. From Apr. 14 to May 7, Coupang held the "Family Month BIG SALE," offering more than 30,000 products with discounts for WOW members. The event included not only health foods, small home appliances, digital devices, and food—categories with strong gift demand—but also travel and leisure products. It went beyond a simple curated sale for Children's Day and Parents' Day gifts to target demand tied to May holidays and outings.
Until now, the biggest annual discount events in Korea's e-commerce industry have been concentrated in November. That's because November has taken root as the global prime shopping season, coinciding with China's Singles Day and the United States' Black Friday and Cyber Monday. On top of that, demand is strong for higher-ticket categories such as winter clothing, heating appliances, year-end gifts, and travel, making November a key period for e-commerce companies to lift their annual transaction amount.
Recently, however, as November discount competition has overheated, there is growing recognition of the need to secure customer touchpoints in the first half. In November, not only e-commerce platforms but also department stores, big-box retailers, brands' own online malls, and overseas direct-purchase platforms all launch sales at the same time, pushing up marketing expenses and making price differentiation difficult.
In response, other platforms are actively moving to capture May shopping demand. Naver Plus Store held the "Family Month+ Sale" from Apr. 20 to May 8, offering benefits that combined Children's Day and Parents' Day gift sections with membership coupons and N Delivery.
Kurly held the "Thank You Sale" from Apr. 30 to May 15, offering up to 77% off on more than 2,500 gift items, including health foods, luxury beauty, and toys. Musinsa Beauty also ran the "Musinsa Beauty Festa" from the 4th to the 14th of this month, featuring more than 540 brands and over 12,000 products at discounts of up to 80%.
The e-commerce industry expects competition over May promotions to intensify. An industry official said, "May is packed with various anniversaries such as Children's Day, Parents' Day, and Teachers' Day, so gift demand is clear, and it also overlaps with spring outings and travel, plus pre-purchases of summer clothing, appliances, and beauty products," adding, "From the platform's perspective, there's no need to wait until November; you can secure massive traffic and transaction amount in the first half as well, making it a good structure to leverage as a second peak shopping season."