[Click e-Stock] "Cafe24 Set to Overcome Revenue Model Limitations with Stablecoin"

On June 26, Hanyang Securities analyzed that if stablecoin-based payment technology becomes commercialized, Cafe24 could reach a structural turning point that surpasses the limitations of its existing revenue model.

Cafe24 is an IT platform company that provides D2C-based one-stop e-commerce solutions for online sellers, and currently holds about 70% market share in the domestic e-commerce platform market. The company currently operates more than 2 million online stores and has over 6 million members.

The company’s business is comprised of an EC platform segment (88%) and an infrastructure segment (12%). Within the EC platform, payment solutions account for the largest portion at 43%. The business portfolio is further diversified with EC solutions at 13%, supply chain services at 22%, and marketing solutions at 18%.

Lee Joonseok, a researcher at Hanyang Securities, stated, “In the first quarter, the company recorded sales of KRW 71.2 billion and operating profit of KRW 5.9 billion, representing year-on-year increases of 6.58% and 176.2%, respectively, with an operating margin of 8.4%. Strong sales growth in core businesses and cost efficiency contributed to these solid results, although the GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) growth rate was somewhat disappointing.”

Integration with YouTube commerce is being highlighted as a key driver of future growth. The average daily YouTube viewing time per Korean is about 140 minutes, which exceeds the combined usage time of Naver and Kakao. Researcher Lee diagnosed, “AI recommendation algorithms and the spread of short-form content are increasing user engagement time, and YouTube is rapidly expanding beyond a simple video platform to include commerce functions.”

YouTube entered the commerce market by launching store features first in Korea, where the platform has the longest viewing time in the world. Cafe24 is expected to benefit from this market growth by providing a shopping payment platform within YouTube. He analyzed, “Despite YouTube commerce still being in its early stages, Cafe24 is expected to be the most direct beneficiary, based on its experience collaborating with global platforms and its technological capabilities.”

He also projected that the introduction of stablecoins would greatly improve Cafe24’s profitability structure. Currently, Cafe24’s profit margin is only 1-2% of GMV, due to high intermediary costs such as PG fees.

Researcher Lee explained, “If stablecoins become commercialized, transaction fees could plummet to around 0.1%, and transaction transparency and prevention of forgery and falsification would become possible, which would significantly enhance profitability. This could serve as a structural turning point that overcomes the limitations of the existing PG-based revenue model.”

Recently, eight major domestic commercial banks have begun establishing a joint venture based on stablecoins, and discussions on related institutionalization are also accelerating. In line with this trend, if Cafe24 incorporates stablecoins into its payment infrastructure, it is expected that both profitability improvement and platform competitiveness enhancement could be achieved in the mid- to long-term.