Wemakeprice Cuts Operating Loss by 20.4 Billion Won Last Year... "55% Profit Improvement for 2 Consecutive Years"

Last Year Sales of 244.8 Billion KRW, Operating Loss of 33.8 Billion KRW Recorded
Commission Fees Reduced to Industry's Lowest Level... Structural Improvement
"Platform Advancement to Drive Sales and Profit Improvement"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] Wemakeprice succeeded in improving its profitability for the second consecutive year. Although sales slightly decreased due to the commission reduction policy, operating losses were reduced by 37.6% compared to the previous year.

Wemakeprice announced on the 14th that it recorded sales of 244.8 billion KRW and an operating loss of 33.8 billion KRW last year. The operating loss decreased by 37.6% compared to the previous year. The intensive structural improvements and system operation efficiencies continued since the year before last were effective. The operating losses over the past three years were 75.7 billion KRW (2019), 54.2 billion KRW (2020), and 33.8 billion KRW (2021), improving profitability by 55% over two years.

A Wemakeprice official explained, "Despite the industry's lowest commission policy directly impacting profits, we achieved significant profit improvement," adding, "We gained confidence that we can improve our structure without being affected by short-term results over the past year."

Sales also decreased by 36.5% compared to the previous year. It is analyzed that the reduction in commission rates and the decrease in the proportion of direct purchase products influenced this. In April last year, Wemakeprice lowered its commission to 2.9%, the lowest level in the industry. This is one-sixth of the average commission rate of online shopping malls, which is 16.7% (Fair Trade Commission's 2021 Large-Scale Retailers Distribution Transaction Survey).

Additionally, to improve its structure, Wemakeprice is continuously reducing the scale of direct purchases, where the entire payment amount from users is calculated as sales. Last year, direct purchase sales were 57.5 billion KRW, a 48.5% decrease compared to the previous year.

Wemakeprice plans to continue improving profitability this year as well. It will also accelerate the 'platform advancement' centered on users by combining tech (metashopping) and human (curation) elements to significantly improve service quality. With a 2.9% commission, it aims to continuously expand its partner companies and product database, enhance user convenience through metashopping and D2C services, and secure growth momentum.

A Wemakeprice representative said, "We led clear profit improvement while attempting platform changes last year," and added, "This year, we will focus on platform advancement to capture both sales and profits?the 'two rabbits'?in the mid to long term."