{"id":6542,"date":"2026-05-07T00:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/6542\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T00:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:59:09","slug":"data-breach-fallout-naver-kurly-alliance-gains-ground-as-coupang-stumbles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/6542\/","title":{"rendered":"Data Breach Fallout: Naver-Kurly Alliance Gains Ground as Coupang Stumbles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TheThe Coupang logo is displayed on the exterior of the company’s headquarters in Seoul on the 6th. Yonhap News<\/p>\n

Korea’s e-commerce market is witnessing a shift, as the crisis facing longtime leader Coupang is turning into a growth catalyst for its rivals. Following Coupang’s security breach late last year, competitors led by Naver are leveraging fresh food offerings and logistics infrastructure to absorb customers leaving Coupang and accelerate their market share gains.<\/p>\n

According to industry sources on Tuesday, Naver has decided to make an additional investment of 33 billion won ($24 million) in Kurly, raising its stake to 6.2 percent. The investment is seen as more than mere financial support, reflecting a strategic move to more tightly integrate Naver’s shopping ecosystem with Kurly’s logistics infrastructure. Naver plans to use the funds to more deeply incorporate Kurly’s logistics subsidiary into its “N Delivery” logistics alliance, aiming to improve both delivery speed and efficiency.<\/p>\n

Data also points to the shift. According to market research firm WiseApp\u00b7Retail, Naver Plus Store’s monthly active users (MAU) reached approximately 8.38 million last month, surging more than 45 percent from November last year, before the breach occurred. Coupang’s user numbers, by contrast, showed a declining trend during the same period.<\/p>\n

\"0716A020716A02 Number of Users 16th Edition<\/p>\n

Naver’s earnings reinforce the trend. Revenue in Naver’s commerce segment grew more than 35 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year. Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon said at a recent earnings call that the company will introduce an unlimited free delivery service tied to its membership program, signaling a head-on challenge in delivery services, which had been Coupang’s core competitive edge.<\/p>\n

Traditional retail giants are also mounting a counterattack. Lotte Mart is preparing to launch an advanced logistics center using Britain’s Ocado system, aiming to reclaim ground in the fresh food market, while Gmarket and 11Street are expanding their reach by strengthening specialized services such as reverse direct purchases for overseas consumers.<\/p>\n

Coupang, however, maintains that the setback is only temporary and that its market leadership remains intact. Coupang Inc. Chairman Bom Kim recently expressed confidence, saying, “The vast majority of customers still choose Coupang. As long as the three core values of price, selection, and delivery are maintained, Coupang’s growth engine will not stop.”<\/p>\n

“In the second half, competition over membership benefits and logistics infrastructure will intensify,” an industry official said. “The market share battle between Coupang’s defensive strategy and the pursuing forces led by Naver will be the biggest storyline to watch in the e-commerce market.”<\/p>\n

\"-–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Coupang logo is displayed on the exterior of the company’s headquarters in Seoul on the 6th. Yonhap…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[623],"tags":[5306,5311,5309,429,5310,5308,657,5307,993],"class_list":{"0":"post-6542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-naver","8":"tag-coupang-data-breach","9":"tag-e-commerce-market-share","10":"tag-fresh-food-market","11":"tag-korea-e-commerce","12":"tag-lotte-mart-ocado","13":"tag-n-delivery","14":"tag-naver","15":"tag-naver-kurly-investment","16":"tag-naver-plus-store"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}