South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang's third-quarter sales hit a record high of US$4.64 billion

  South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. reported on Friday that its net loss in the third quarter increased sharply despite record sales revenue, mainly due to increased operating costs and rising investments, according to the Korea Business News .

The New York-listed e-commerce giant said in a regulatory filing that its net loss for the July-September period was $323.97 million, up 87% from $173 million in the same period a year earlier.

However, its sales increased by 48% year-on-year to a record $4.64 billion. Its operating loss was $315.11 million, up from $216.24 million a year ago. It is reported that the platform attributed the increase in losses to rising operating costs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"During the third quarter, we incurred approximately $95 million of incremental labor and operating costs primarily related to the increase in coronavirus cases and heightened restrictions in South Korea," Coupang said in a statement.

It reported that the number of customers who made at least one purchase on the platform in the third quarter reached 16.8 million, up 20% from the same period last year. Each active customer spent $276 in the three-month period, up 23% from the same period last year.

However, its active customer base in the second quarter was 17 million. From this, it can be seen that the number of active customers in the third quarter showed a slight downward trend, which is not unrelated to the wave of consumer boycotts that the platform has encountered this year.

With the saturation of Amazon and Southeast Asia's cross-border e-commerce market, more and more sellers are looking for cross-border e-commerce platforms in the blue ocean market. Since Coupang made its landmark debut on the New York stock market this year, more and more Chinese sellers have begun to pay attention to this e-commerce platform.

It is reported that some sellers have already jumped on the Coupang listing and reaped a wave of dividends. However, the editor still wants to remind all sellers that everything has two sides, and the blue ocean platform may not be as beautiful as imagined, so you still need to do your homework before entering the market.

Cross-border e-commerce platform

South Korea

Coupang