Coupang's monthly app users declined again after a brief rebound last month, while Naver's shopping platform rapidly expanded its presence, shaking up the competitive rankings in Korea's e-commerce market.
According to retail analytics service WiseApp·Retail on Tuesday, Coupang's monthly active users (MAU) reached 33.38 million in April, down 0.2 percent from the previous month. In March, the platform had posted its first increase in four months, but the upward trend reversed within a month.
Coupang's user base has failed to show a clear recovery since a personal data leak controversy late last year. User numbers declined for three consecutive months from December through February before a modest rebound in March, only to return to stagnation.
Parent company Coupang Inc. also reported an operating loss of 354.5 billion won ($258 million) in the first quarter, swinging back into the red for the first time in seven quarters, the company disclosed the same day.
Naver's commerce business, by contrast, is on a clear upward trajectory. Naver Plus Store's MAU reached approximately 8.39 million in April, up more than 5 percent in a month. The figure pushed Naver past AliExpress (8.31 million) to take third place among general shopping mall apps.
The gap with second-ranked Temu narrowed to just about 30,000 users, creating what amounts to a neck-and-neck race. Industry observers say Naver is rapidly expanding its market share by leveraging its existing search- and content-based user base.
Against this backdrop, competition among domestic and foreign e-commerce players is intensifying. 11Street and Gmarket both saw user numbers decline, while CJ Onstyle and GS Shop posted only modest gains.
WiseApp·Retail's MAU figures are compiled through statistical estimates based on panel data tracking app usage.
