Next-day arrival of Korean goods in Taiwan possible as Coupang starts service

[Photo by Park Hyung-ki]

South Korea’s e-commerce giant and Nasdaq-trading Coupang Inc. has picked Taiwan as the base for Southeast Asian market outreach by capitalizing on local demand for a wide range of Korean items from foods to beauty goods and sanitary items.

Coupang announced Wednesday it started its flagship rocket delivery service for cross-border shopping in Taiwan, allowing users in the Southeast Asian country to purchase millions of items available in Korea.

Once they place an order, the item will be shipped out from Korea on the next day. Delivery to the customers is expected to take an average three to nine days including. For purchases worth 690 Taiwanese dollars or above, delivery charges of 195 Taiwanese dollars are not levied.

Coupang has already established necessary logistics infrastructure for the service. It has entered a business partnership with local logistics company and secured logistics facilities in Taiwan.

Rocket delivery service for local shopping also is under test.

Coupang decided to start the first overseas service in Taiwan as the burgeoning e-commerce market has greater growth potential. The Taiwanese e-commerce market last year grew 25 percent on year to $20.49 billion, taking up 10.8 percent of the total retail market and one-fifth of the Korean e-commerce market.

The country has a population of 23.58 million, of which 92.4 percent use the internet. The internet usage rate is one of the world’s largest.

“Taiwan is a densely populated country like Korea, where most people live in large cities, and thus the rocket delivery service will likely gain a success. The country will be pave the way for our global forays as a testbed,” said Yoo Hyo-sang, head of Unicorn Business and Economic Research Institute.

Demand for Korean products is growing fast among Taiwanese consumers as well, riding on popularity of K-content. During the test-service of Coupang’s cross-border rocket delivery since June, Taiwanese consumers ordered various items from foods to cosmetics and sanitary goods.

Coupang however has a lot of catching up to do as a latecomer.

Amazon and iHerb of the U.S. and Singapore-based Shopee have already entered the market and expanded their foothold.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]