As Coupang wobbles amid a string of setbacks, including a massive personal data leak and a logistics center fire, NAVER is accelerating efforts to strengthen its commerce competitiveness. It is targeting Coupang's weak spots by continuing aggressive investments in delivery services, memberships, and large-scale discount events.
NAVER's offensive is heightening tensions not only at Coupang but also among open-market operators such as 11Street and Gmarket. While Coupang runs its business mainly on direct purchasing, NAVER's platform is built on onboarding sellers and advertising/intermediation fees, making its model more similar to those of 11Street and Gmarket.
According to the retail industry on the 21st, NAVER has recently made delivery competitiveness a core task in its institutional sector of commerce and is ramping up investment. After teaming up with Kurly for dawn delivery, it introduced same-day delivery, is working with logistics companies to increase products covered by N Delivery (arrival date guaranteed), and is expanding delivery time slots from same-day and next-day to dawn and Sunday.
It is also strengthening logistics support for sellers on Smart Store. Starting on the 16th, it launched the beta service "N Delivery by NAVER," which supports the entire logistics operation—from inventory management to shipping, exchange/returns, and customer response—when a seller stocks products at a logistics center.
In the mid-to-long term, there is talk that it may secure its own logistics hubs in the greater Seoul area. However, NAVER said it is only at the stage of reviewing various measures to strengthen logistics competitiveness and has not finalized whether to build logistics centers or introduce direct delivery.
The reason NAVER is putting special effort into delivery services is to catch up with Coupang's logistics strengths, such as Rocket Delivery and free returns. NAVER has stuck to a platform-style logistics strategy that connects sellers and logistics companies, but the efficiency of a direct-delivery model like Coupang's is drawing attention.
Earlier, NAVER CEO Choi Soo-yeon said on a conference call after the first-quarter earnings release in April, "We are considering a direct-investment model for logistics," and "We are reviewing an optimal structure that can lower per-delivery costs and secure logistics data."
Promotional events are also growing in scale. NAVER revamped last year's biggest annual shopping event, "Naver Shopping Festa," into "Nepda Sale," aiming to boost not only gross merchandise value but also ad spending and membership sign-ups. With free shipping and discount coupons at the forefront, cumulative sales during the two-week event in the second half of last year topped 1 trillion won.
Coincidentally, this expansion of NAVER's commerce business has overlapped with a series of setbacks at Coupang. After growth slowed following a personal data leak in Nov. last year, Coupang was recently hit with a penalty surcharge in the 600 billion won range. On the 18th, a large fire broke out at its Incheon logistics center, heightening concerns over damage to goods and facilities.
Inside and outside the industry, many are closely watching whether NAVER will not only absorb "Talpang" (customers leaving Coupang) demand but also encroach on the existing open-market space. While Coupang has a high share of products it directly stores and sells, NAVER and 11Street/Gmarket mainly operate a structure where onboarded sellers sell products and the platform earns intermediation and advertising revenue.
An e-commerce industry official said, "Because Coupang is based on direct purchasing, its business approach differs somewhat from 11Street and Gmarket, but NAVER competes head-to-head for sellers, advertisers, and consumers," adding, "From an open-market perspective, NAVER's growth is more threatening than Coupang's."
NAVER is steadily narrowing the gap with Coupang. According to an analysis of estimated average monthly payments for the first half of this year, released by Wiseapp Retail on this day, when Coupang is indexed to 100, NAVER/Naver Pay scored 96.5, making it the closest retail (distribution) platform. Gmarket/Auction scored 21.8.
NAVER is expected to continue top-line growth in the second quarter, led by advertising and commerce. According to FnGuide(064850), NAVER's second-quarter sales consensus (securities firms' estimates) is 3.3663 trillion won, up 15.5% from a year earlier, and operating profit is 566 billion won, up 8.5%. With increased commerce investment costs such as AI infrastructure and enhanced membership benefits, the scope for profitability improvement is expected to be limited.