Card spending on Coupang topped 5 trillion won ($3.6 billion) for the first time in recent tallies, even after a personal data breach triggered a wave of account cancellations. Monthly active users also rose above pre-breach levels.
Card Spending Nears 5 Trillion Won as Rocket Delivery and Wow Keep Users
According to data compiled by IGAWorks' Mobile Index on the 9th, estimated credit and debit card payments on Coupang totaled 5.0942 trillion won in July, up 5.4% from 4.8337 trillion won in June.
It marks the first time monthly card spending on the platform has entered the 5 trillion won range, based on the monthly data. August spending came to 4.9301 trillion won, staying near the 5 trillion won mark. That is 12.6% higher than the 4.3777 trillion won recorded in August last year. The trend runs counter to forecasts of a consumer exodus that spread immediately after the data breach.
Analysts attribute the resilience to shoppers who frequently buy daily necessities and groceries and rely heavily on fast delivery, as well as to the Wow membership program, which bundles delivery, food delivery and streaming benefits into a single subscription.
Coupang MAU Reaches 35.95 Million, Gap With Rivals Intact
Spending was not the only figure to climb. Coupang's monthly active users reached 35.95 million in August, about 510,000 more than in July. That is 1.57 million higher than the 34.38 million recorded in October last year, before the data breach was disclosed.
After Coupang's large-scale data breach came to light in November last year, calls to cancel accounts spread online. But subsequent user and payment figures offer little evidence that the initial reaction turned into a lasting exodus.
The gap with competitors also remained wide. Gmarket's estimated payments came to 247.7 billion won in August, down 25.9% from a year earlier, while 11st posted 241.4 billion won, a 3.1% decline. Coupang sustained double-digit growth while its closest rivals moved backward.
Combined, the two companies' payments totaled 489.1 billion won, or about one-tenth of Coupang's 4.9301 trillion won. The figures point to a deepening concentration in the e-commerce market.
The statistics, however, are estimates calculated by Mobile Index based on card company payment data. They may differ from the revenue Coupang officially reports or from actual transaction volumes.
