Gmarket’s transaction value rises for third straight quarter as it steps up exports, delivery and content

[Financial News] Gmarket is accelerating its growth by expanding global exports, strengthening its delivery capabilities and enhancing its content shopping services.
According to industry sources on the 26th, Gmarket’s transaction value returned to growth in the first quarter of this year for the first time in four years, then rose year on year for three consecutive quarters through the third quarter. As a result, cumulative transaction value from January to September this year also grew by double digits compared with the same period last year. Investments to expand seller support, step up marketing and enhance the platform have paid off, while expanded exports through partnerships with global platforms have also supported growth, the company said.
Building on this growth, Gmarket is focusing on global exports, delivery and content shopping as its three core businesses and strengthening its growth engines by expanding new services.
First, Gmarket will step up its global export business. As early as the first half of next year, it plans to expand its sales channels to around 120 countries worldwide by linking with Alibaba Group’s global platform. In particular, it has selected beauty—a category in high demand overseas—as a key export product category and will strengthen sales support.
Gmarket currently sells at least 30 million products from around 11,000 domestic sellers in five countries—Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam—through Lazada, a Southeast Asian e-commerce platform. From October last year through September this year, overseas sales totaled 630,000 units, with beauty products accounting for about 20%.
Gmarket is also working to strengthen its delivery capabilities. It will introduce a new delivery service that handles everything from collecting products to delivery, without requiring sellers to move products to a separate logistics center or transfer their inventory. The company plans to reduce sellers’ logistics burden while enabling them to use the delivery network for Star Delivery, its guaranteed-arrival service.
A comparison of transaction value in the three months before and after sellers adopted Star Delivery this year showed an average increase of 15%. The new delivery service is scheduled to launch in the Seoul metropolitan area at the end of this month, expand to other regions in the first half of next year and establish a nationwide delivery network by the end of next year.
Gmarket will also strengthen its content commerce business. In November, it will launch Gmarket Curator, an affiliate marketing service that connects creators and sellers. Sellers set a commission for each product, and creators share product content and purchase links on external channels such as social media platforms (SNS), earning revenue based on the purchases generated through those links.
Following the launch of an AI-based advertising service last month, Gmarket will officially introduce an AI chatbot powered by a large language model (LLM) early next year. The AI will respond to buyers’ basic inquiries 24 hours a day and connect them with sellers only when direct consultation is needed. In the second half of next year, the company also plans to launch an AI Shopping Agent that uses AI to assist shoppers from product discovery through purchase.
A Gmarket representative said, “Over the past year since the launch of the joint venture (JV), we have strengthened our business competitiveness through seller support, the expansion of global sales channels and marketing investments, and these efforts have led to transaction value growth for three consecutive quarters.” The representative added, “We will continue to actively pursue differentiated businesses, including expanding global exports, new delivery services and content commerce, to further accelerate growth.”

[email protected] Jang Yu-ha Reporter