Coupang, Inc. Chairman Bom Kim Says Customer Return and Spending Recovery Continue... "Expanding Rocket Delivery and Coupang Eats"

[Financial News] Bom Kim, Chairman of Coupang, Inc., said that customers who left after the personal data incident are returning and spending is recovering. He added that the company will sustain its growth by expanding products and services. In Taiwan, it will launch dawn delivery, while Coupang Eats will expand into non-food delivery.■Accelerating customer return... winning back customers who have not yet returned At an earnings conference call for the second quarter held on the 5th Korea time, Kim said, "Most of the spending affected by the data incident has already recovered, and we are now seeing the same growth trend as before the incident."
Coupang's consolidated revenue for the second quarter rose 10% year on year on a constant-currency basis. Product commerce revenue, including Rocket Delivery, increased 8%, and active customers rose 3% from a year earlier to 24.7 million.
Kim explained, "Most customer spending has not changed, and their spending is at an all-time high." He added, "Customers whose spending has declined account for only a portion of the total, and most customers have already returned." The number of Coupang Wow Membership subscribers also surpassed pre-incident levels as new customers continued to join.
He said, "Total customer spending excluding those who have not yet returned increased 16% from a year earlier." He added, "The gap with the 8% growth rate in product commerce is due to the spending shortfall from customers who have not come back."■Maintaining logistics investment... "Growth and margin recovery next year"Coupang has decided not to cut investment in logistics infrastructure despite a temporary slowdown in revenue. Kim said, "Current revenue is below plan, so the share of logistics processing capacity and fixed costs in revenue has increased." He added, "In the long term, we believe it is right to expand logistics capacity to support the customer experience."
Expanded marketing and promotions to win back customers, along with lower supply chain volumes, weighed on profitability. Coupang expects marketing costs and supply chain inefficiencies to ease next year, once the impact of the incident fades.
Kim said, "The recovery will not be linear." He added, "Once the affected period is fully behind us, we expect product commerce to return to its previous growth rate and margin structure."
■Dawn delivery in Taiwan and non-food delivery through Coupang Eats
In Taiwan, Coupang has launched dawn delivery based on its own fulfillment and delivery network. Most deliveries are currently handled through seven-day-a-week next-day delivery.
Kim explained, "It took four years to launch dawn delivery in Korea, but we achieved it in Taiwan in just one year." He said this was because the company inherited technology and operating manuals accumulated over more than 10 years in Korea.
Coupang Eats has expanded beyond food delivery and begun offering non-food delivery services. Rocket Now, Coupang's on-demand delivery service in Japan, is in the early investment and business validation stage. Kim said, "Product commerce, Coupang Eats, and the Taiwan business are different stages of the same growth strategy."■Third-quarter revenue forecast for 8% to 9% growthGaurav Anand, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Coupang, cited expanded marketing and promotions to win back customers, investment in growth businesses, and a fixed-cost structure built to match previous demand forecasts as the reasons for the slowdown in profitability.
Adjusted EBITDA for product commerce came to $382 million, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 5.1%. Revenue from growth businesses rose 24% year on year on a constant-currency basis to $1.4 billion, while the adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed to $219 million, improving by $110 million from the previous quarter.
Coupang forecast that consolidated revenue in the third quarter will rise 8% to 9% year on year on a constant-currency basis. Anand said, "By mid-2027, the adjusted EBITDA margin for product commerce will be close to the level seen before the personal data incident." He added, "The biggest reason for this year's growth-business loss is the long-term investment needed to build out the Taiwan retail business."

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