Products awaiting delivery are stacked at a Coupang logistics center in Seoul. Yonhap News
Coupang (CPNG) has taken a drastic step to tighten its health supplement sales standards, pushing out unverified sellers. The move is seen as an effort to block counterfeit products and capture consumer trust and demand amid the rapid growth of the online health supplement market.
According to industry sources Tuesday, Coupang has required sellers and products of health supplements to submit official documents since last month, and has halted product registration and sales for sellers who fail to meet these requirements.
Coupang first required sellers to submit a business notification certificate or business registration certificate to verify whether they are qualified to manufacture, distribute, or import health supplements. At the individual product level, sellers must also submit supporting documents such as product manufacturing notifications from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), import declarations, and labels. The measure effectively covers all health supplement sellers, including Coupang’s regular sellers as well as “Rocket Growth” sellers, external sellers that use Coupang’s logistics services.
The measure was taken in response to controversies over counterfeit health supplements. Recently, there have been repeated complaints that nutritional supplements and other products sold on e-commerce open markets are counterfeits that even mimic the container designs and labels of well-known products. In particular, suspicions have been raised that open market sellers based in China are distributing unverified products.
Analysts also view the move as part of a mid- to long-term strategy to expand market share in the health supplement sector. According to the Korea Health Supplements Association, the domestic health supplement market reached 5.96 trillion won ($4.4 billion) last year. In particular, the share of online sales surged from 43.8% in 2019 to 71% last year. The strategy is to attract online health supplement demand by building an image as a “clean platform free of counterfeits.”
The industry expects Coupang to expand its direct-purchase sales of health supplements alongside this measure. As the number of unverified sellers in the open market decreases, Coupang’s health supplement sales could also decline, prompting a strategy to offset this through direct-purchase transactions.
According to the MFDS, Coupang’s health supplement imports totaled $9.65 million (approximately 14.6 billion won) in 2024, up 17.7% from $8.19 million the previous year. “For products that are ingested or applied to the body, addressing consumer concerns and strengthening trust is the top priority,” a Coupang official said. “We are continuously improving our product handling policies so that lawful and safe products can be sold.”