In May, a 'Yukgaejang crisis' occurred when Nongshim's Yukgaejang bowl noodles were sold at Coupang for more than 80% cheaper than the regular price. This time, a 'Coco ball crisis' has emerged. Both crises were caused by input errors in pricing.
According to the industry on the 2nd, from the 30th of last month until the early morning of the 1st, 118 units of the 'Post Cup cereal Coco balls 30g' product were sold on Coupang's seller page for a total of 3,800 won. The regular price is 3,600 won, but it was sold for about 32 won each.
The seller stated that it was a mistake by Coupang, not a promotional sale. As this information spread overnight on online communities and social media, orders surged. It is reported that about 30,000 orders were received during the approximately 5 hours when the price error occurred.
As hundreds of inquiries continued, the seller said, 'There was a problem with the Coupang system error where one unit was incorrectly displayed as 118 units,' and added, 'We cannot ship the order due to this misrepresentation by Coupang.'
Some customers requested, 'If it's not 118 units, please cancel the order,' to which the company explained, 'If the seller cancels, regardless of the reason, the seller will receive a penalty in the Coupang system.'
Coupang sent 'order cancellation notice' messages to customers who purchased the product on the afternoon of the 1st, stating, 'The quantity of the product was posted incorrectly, and it will inevitably be canceled.'
On May 21st, Nongshim's Yukgaejang bowl noodles (36 units) were sold at a discounted price of 5,040 won on Coupang, more than 80% cheaper than the regular price. Due to a staff error in inputting the unit price, an erroneous price equivalent to 140 won each was displayed for about 10 minutes. During this time, the news spread rapidly on social media, resulting in thousands of orders.
At that time, Coupang acknowledged the 'internal pricing error' but stated that it would fulfill the orders.
Coupang explained, 'There was an issue where incorrect prices were temporarily displayed, but to maintain trust with customers, we decided to fulfill the orders that are being delivered. We provided a small amount of Coupang cash to customers whose orders were canceled due to being out of stock.'