Rocket Growth Dominates Sellers
Related Sales Up 19% Compared to Previous Year
Simultaneous Growth in Taiwan Market
The foundation of Coupang's growth, which recorded its first annual profit since its establishment, lies in the numerous small and medium-sized merchants in Korea. Excellent SMEs have boarded Coupang's Rocket logistics network, built with an investment of over 6 trillion won, achieving mutual growth.
According to industry sources on the 28th, the number of small and medium-sized merchants using Rocket Growth, introduced by Coupang in March last year, is estimated to exceed 12,000. Rocket Growth is a service that provides integrated product storage, packaging, inventory management, delivery, and returns for SMEs listed on Coupang. Small merchants only need to supply the goods without any other involvement. They can use the logistics infrastructure network built nationwide with an investment of 6.2 trillion won by Coupang and pay only a nominal fee. Consumers can receive marketplace products via Rocket Delivery, and SMEs can increase their consumer touchpoints, creating a win-win effect.
Kim Beom-seok, Coupang’s founder, also said during the conference call that "more than 80% of Rocket Growth merchants are SMEs that cannot be listed on physical shelves of traditional retailers and lack the financial capacity to build their own infrastructure." He added, "Their transaction volume in the last quarter doubled compared to the same period last year, and the number of participating companies increased by 80%." He further stated, "We are pleased that enterprising SMEs can utilize the 'Rocket Network,' created through a historic investment of tens of billions of dollars."
The success of Rocket Growth is directly reflected in the performance results. According to Coupang’s 2023 financial disclosure released that day, the revenue from Coupang’s Product Commerce sector, including Rocket Growth, reached 30.7998 trillion won (23.594 billion USD) last year, showing a 19% growth compared to the previous year. Riding this growth trend, Coupang expanded the Rocket Growth service scope earlier this year from essential daily goods, industrial products, and fashion accessories to fresh food. Services for rice and grains have already started, and within the first quarter of this year, it plans to expand to nuts, dried seafood, and marine products, excluding refrigerated and frozen foods.
The partnership with domestic SMEs is also progressing in Taiwan. Since October 2022, Coupang has been handling all processes such as logistics, customs clearance, and local delivery for SMEs wishing to enter the Taiwanese market. From the SMEs’ perspective, they can target the Taiwanese market without bearing separate costs for various permits and procedures required for overseas expansion. Thanks to this advantage, the number of domestic SMEs exporting products to Taiwan through Coupang exceeded 12,000 last year. This accounts for one-third of the 42,000 overseas-exporting consumer goods SMEs.
Sales have achieved mutual growth. Domestic SMEs that joined Coupang’s Rocket Delivery in Taiwan reportedly saw sales increase by at least 50% and up to more than 10 times compared to before. Coupang’s revenue in the developing offerings sector, including the Taiwan business, reached 1.0299 trillion won (789 million USD) last year, a 27% increase from 811.3 billion won the previous year. Founder Kim evaluated Taiwan by saying it "has proven its potential in terms of growth, scale, and influence."
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