Gmarket said on the 9th that its gross merchandise value (GMV) returned to positive growth in the first half of this year, marking a successful rebound. It is the first such first-half performance in four years.
Gmarket's first-half GMV rose 14% from a year earlier. Key customer metrics also improved. The average monthly purchase value per customer increased 12% year-on-year. GMV from direct visits, rather than inflows from external channels such as price-comparison sites, grew 5%, and the purchase conversion rate climbed 14%.
Seller inflows are also accelerating. As of the 1st of this month, Gmarket had 660,000 sellers, up 5% from a year earlier. The number of profit-generating sellers with monthly sales of 50 million won or more rose 6%. The company attributes the seller growth to its annual 500 billion won seller investment policy, which includes fully covering coupon costs for major promotions and abolishing fees on seller discount coupons.
The global reverse direct purchase business, which sells Korean products to overseas customers, is also growing rapidly. The business, launched last year, saw its first-half GMV more than double compared with the second half of last year. Currently, about 17,000 sellers participate, selling 30 million products to Southeast Asian markets.
Last year, Gmarket set a goal of doubling its GMV within five years and announced a large-scale investment plan and vision targeting customers and sellers. "In the first half of this year, the first year of investment implementation, GMV growth recovered while customer purchasing power, seller competitiveness, and the global business grew together, and the investment effects are becoming fully visible," a Gmarket official said.
Gmarket plans to continue strategic investments in the second half and accelerate its expansion of GMV-based market share. The strategy is to further strengthen platform competitiveness by expanding customer benefits in addition to seller support and AI-based platform upgrades.
First, the company will overhaul its fee policy for sellers within the third quarter. Starting next month, it will also introduce a free return service for Star Delivery products for members of its 'Kkok' membership program. Through free returns, the company plans to lower customers' shopping burden, improve the purchase experience, and expand customer inflows and repeat purchases. In addition, hyper-personalized product search and recommendation features using artificial intelligence (AI) technology will be launched within the second half.
"The first half of this year was a period in which we drove a GMV rebound through strategic investment and confirmed the potential of our mid- to long-term growth strategy, with customers, sellers, and the global business growing together," said James Chang, CEO of Gmarket. "Going forward, we will continue to focus on what customers and sellers truly need rather than short-term results, and steadily continue investments to enhance our future competitiveness."
