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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang saw a sharp decline in users last month as customer defections accelerated following a large-scale personal data breach disclosed in December, industry data showed.
According to retail analytics firm Wiseapp Retail, Coupang’s monthly active users (MAU) in January fell to 33.18 million, down 3.2% month-on-month, or approximately 1.1 million users. The pace of user decline intensified significantly compared with December, when MAU slipped by just 0.3%.
The acceleration in customer churn came despite Coupang’s efforts to stem losses by issuing shopping vouchers to users on Jan. 15 as compensation for the data breach. Analysts said the incentive failed to reverse the negative sentiment among customers, triggering what has been dubbed “탈팡,” a term referring to mass account withdrawals from the platform.
Among the top five general e-commerce apps in South Korea, most platforms also recorded user declines in January. Chinese e-commerce apps AliExpress and Temu saw their MAU fall by 1.3% and 0.3%, respectively, while 11st posted a 0.9% decline.
In contrast, Naver Plus Store emerged as a clear beneficiary of Coupang’s customer outflow. Its MAU jumped 10% month-on-month, rising from 6.44 million in December to 7.09 million in January, propelling it from sixth to fifth place among general e-commerce apps in South Korea.
Other platforms showed mixed performance. Gmarket recorded a 2.4% drop in MAU to 6.80 million, while GS Shop saw a sharper 7.5% decline to 2.65 million users. CJ OnStyle, however, bucked the trend with a 5.5% increase in users to 2.51 million.
In the food delivery segment, Baemin and Yogiyo saw their MAU decline by 0.7% and 3.2%, respectively, while Coupang Eats recorded a 1.9% increase, partially offsetting weakness in Coupang’s core commerce platform.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
