Coupang sales shoot up in 2020 as Covid-19 sends shoppers online

Transactions made on e-commerce website Coupang last year reached an estimated 21.75 trillion won ($19.8 billion), up 41 percent from an estimated 15.41 trillion won the previous year

Transactions made on e-commerce website Coupang last year reached an estimated 21.75 trillion won ($19.8 billion), up 41 percent from an estimated 15.41 trillion won the previous year, according to retail industry trackers Wiseapp and Wise Retail Tuesday.

Transactions made on e-commerce website Coupang last year reached an estimated 21.75 trillion won ($19.8 billion), up 41 percent from an estimated 15.41 trillion won the previous year, according to retail industry trackers Wiseapp and Wise Retail Tuesday.

The figure includes transactions made on Coupang Eats, the e-commerce operator’s food delivery service.

The calculation was based on credit card, debit card, account transactions and cell phone payments made by Koreans aged 20 or above. Transactions made via corporate credit card were not included.

The number of monthly Coupang users that use Android smartphones and are aged 10 or older also jumped 20 percent from 12.87 million in December 2019 to 15.43 million in December last year. The number of Coupang Eats users also rose 900 percent from 210,000 to 2.1 million during the same period.

Coupang Eats launched the service in May 2019.

Amid the e-commerce boom as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, Coupang has recently passed a preliminary review for its listing on the U.S. Nasdaq, according to a recent report from Bloomberg.

The report said it could go public in the second quarter.

Coupang on Tuesday did not confirm the news, but repeated its previous stance that it “plans to pursue an IPO at an appropriate time.”

It also did not confirm which market it seeks to be listed on.

While the company attempts to secure more funds, its founder Kim Bom resigned as CEO late last year and has been named chairman. He has also lost the title of representative director.

The cash-poor company reported a 720.5 billion won ($655 million) operating loss in 2019, compared with a 1.13 trillion won loss in 2018.

Its annual report for last year is scheduled to be released in April.

The company is expected to have seen its earnings improve last year, as more people turned online for shopping due to the pandemic and the social distancing efforts that followed. Coupang has not yet revealed whether it moved into the black last year.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]