Released 100 Million Gold Bars, Spent 100 Billion... Counterattack Against Ultra-Low Price Offensive

Commerce Open Market Focuses on 'Marketing Firepower'
Increasing Coupons and Discounts, Offering Gold Bars as Prizes

E-commerce open market companies Gmarket and 11st have announced large-scale discounts ahead of the first half ‘Big Smile Day’ and ‘Sibilsul Festa’. This is a counterattack as Chinese e-commerce companies such as Ali and Temu strengthen their offensive in the domestic market with low prices and extensive discount benefits.

11st will hold the first half’s largest promotion, ‘Sibilsul Festa,’ from the 29th to the 11th of next month. It will sell a total of about 5.2 million products at discounts of up to 72%. Usually, Sibilsul Festa was held for a total of 11 days from the 1st to the 11th, but this year the period has been extended by two days.

The ‘Shopping Cart Coupon’ benefits have also been strengthened. 11st will issue two types of coupons to all customers: a 5,000 KRW discount coupon (for purchases over 50,000 KRW, issued daily on a first-come, first-served basis) and a 3,000 KRW discount coupon (for purchases over 40,000 KRW, two coupons issued during the period). On the last day of the event, the 11th, an additional 3,000 KRW discount coupon for ‘KakaoPay Money’ (for purchases over 30,000 KRW, one coupon issued per day) will also be provided.

There are also prize and bonus events. The prize is gold bars. Through the 100% winning event ‘Billionaire Rock-Paper-Scissors Game,’ gold bars worth a total of 100 million KRW will be drawn and distributed.

Unique products from small and medium sellers active on 11st will be sold as ‘1+1’ deals. ‘Original Sellers’ who sell their own unique brand products and new sellers participate in the ‘1+1 Double-Up Promotion,’ offering products such as ‘Rom&nd’ Blur Fudge Tint and ‘CoenF’ Potion Capsule Coffee as ‘1+1’ items.

Additionally, events such as ‘Half-Price Deals,’ which introduces 10 items daily, ▲ ‘Imminent Market’ selling products close to expiration at discounts of over 30%, ▲ ‘369 Deals’ featuring cost-effective items under 10,000 KRW, and ▲ ‘Warehouse Grand Opening’ of ‘Shooting Delivery’ which delivers directly purchased products the next day, will be held. Park Hyunsoo, 11st CBO (Chief Business Officer), explained, “We opened the first half’s largest promotion earlier than usual and armed it with powerful discount benefits amid fierce competition in the e-commerce industry.”

Earlier, Gmarket announced that it invested about 100 billion KRW in customer benefit costs to hold the ‘Big Smile Day’ next month. This is a record-scale investment, double the cost of previous Big Smile Day events. Big Smile Day is the largest annual discount event held twice a year by Gmarket and Auction in May and November. This event will be held for 14 days from the 7th to the 20th of next month.

Gmarket invested about 70 billion KRW in price benefits such as discount coupons and card discounts. About 65 billion KRW, which is about 50% more than the discount cost provided to customers in previous Big Smile Day events, will be invested to secure product price competitiveness. The scale of card company discounts that can be combined is secured at over 5 billion KRW. Customers will be offered high-value coupons that provide discounts up to 150,000 KRW, brand overlapping discount coupons, and instant card discount benefits.

More than 10 billion KRW will be invested to strengthen membership benefits. For the entire month of May, new members joining the membership (Shinsegae Universe Club) will be offered an annual fee reduced by 84% to 4,900 KRW. Upon joining, members will immediately receive Smile Cash worth 14,900 KRW, which is three times the annual fee. Additionally, a free one-year extension benefit will be provided upon joining.

Marketing costs such as customer participation events have been expanded to about 20 billion KRW. Various prize events such as cash-providing random boxes and car giveaway events have been prepared. Gmarket said, “We expect a strong customer response as we offer reliable products at competitive prices together with about 30,000 small and medium sellers.”