“Korea is a massive e-commerce opportunity. It’s the fifth-largest globally and grew at a 20% CAGR over the last five years, second only to China. And it’s the largest e-commerce opportunity not won by Amazon or Alibaba, but there is a broader play here. Similar to China, Korea is leapfrogging the offline retail revolution. The US has more than 10 times the offline retail footprint per capita of Korea....
With most major e-commerce companies having reported their earnings updates for the first quarter of 2021, here are some of the key themes I picked up and the companies that are winning in this space.
South Korea e-commerce growing fast – Coupang riding the wave
Korea may have one of the most mature e-commerce markets globally, but there is still plenty of room for growth.
During Coupang Inc‘s (NYSE: CPNG) earnings conference call for the first quarter of 2021, CEO Bom Suk Kim said: