Gmarket Initiates First Voluntary Retirement... Shinsegae E-commerce Downsizing

Special Consolation Payment and Career Transition Support for Employees with Over 2 Years of Service
Voluntary Retirement Conducted Following SSG.com

Gmarket, an e-commerce platform affiliated with Shinsegae Group, is conducting voluntary retirement for the first time. Following SSG.com, which previously announced voluntary retirement, Gmarket is also implementing voluntary retirement, as Shinsegae-affiliated e-commerce companies are consecutively undertaking 'downsizing.'

According to the distribution industry on the 27th, Gmarket informed its employees through the company bulletin board that it would proceed with voluntary retirement. The application target is Gmarket regular employees with more than 2 years of service, specifically those who joined before October 31, 2022, based on their date of hire.

Gmarket logo.

The application period is from today until the 11th of next month, and in addition to the statutory severance pay, a special consolation payment will be given, calculated by multiplying the monthly salary by the years of service. Specifically, depending on the length of service, ▲ less than 6 years: 6 times the monthly salary ▲ 6 years to less than 19 years: monthly salary multiplied by years of service ▲ 20 years or more: 24 times the monthly salary will be paid as a special consolation payment.

Support for career transition is also provided for voluntary retirees. Applicants for voluntary retirement will receive customized one-on-one consulting or career planning and employment/startup education through a professional outsourcing agency. Additionally, employees approved for voluntary retirement can apply for up to 2 months of unpaid leave.

Jung Hyung-kwon, CEO of Gmarket, explained in an email to employees, "The company has reviewed and implemented various attempts and all possible measures to streamline business and improve profitability to secure competitiveness, but we have reached the conclusion that fundamental structural reform is inevitable to overcome all these difficulties and secure a sustainable business structure in the future."

Gmarket plans to provide compensation and support for a new start to employees who choose voluntary retirement. CEO Jung said, "We are implementing voluntary retirement with a very heavy heart," and added, "We sincerely ask for your generous understanding of this measure for a new leap forward."

The reason Gmarket decided to implement voluntary retirement appears to be due to continued poor performance and resulting deficits. Gmarket accumulated losses of about 100 billion KRW over two years from 2022 to last year. In the first half of this year, it also recorded an operating loss of 22.1 billion KRW.

Earlier, another e-commerce affiliate of Shinsegae Group, SSG.com, also implemented voluntary retirement in July. Prior to this, in March, E-Mart conducted its first voluntary retirement since its founding, followed by E-Mart Everyday, a corporate supermarket (SSM), which also implemented voluntary retirement in June.