"Technology Development is Competitiveness" Coupang to Continue Talent Recruitment Next Year

Fam CTO Emphasizes Development Capabilities at First Developer Conference 'Rebuild 2020'

Coupang Developer Conference 'Reveal 2020'

"Since the COVID-19 pandemic, people have relied on technology more than ever to meet their needs. Therefore, the role of developers has become even more important." This was stated by Tuan Pham, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), at Coupang's first developer conference, 'Reveal 2020,' held on the 11th. His emphasis on the importance of development capabilities is seen as a clear indication of Coupang's future direction. Although orders have significantly increased due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) this year, the company is still operating at a loss, and development capabilities must be applied to various tasks such as reducing logistics costs and entering new business areas.

According to the e-commerce industry on the 15th, Coupang plans to continuously recruit competitive developers next year as well as this year. Coupang's technology development talent pool consists of about 2,000 people from various nationalities including Korea, the United States, China, Taiwan, India, Canada, and Russia, with offices located outside Korea in Silicon Valley, Seattle, Beijing, and Shanghai. This year, the company aggressively recruited experienced developers with a goal of hiring over 200 people and offered a signing bonus of at least 50 million KRW, indicating that the development organization is rapidly expanding, according to industry analysis. CTO Pham said, "To build technological competitiveness, attracting top talent is most important," adding, "If we can hire and continuously nurture the best talent at all levels, we will become a company with world-class development capabilities."

◆The Key to Reducing Logistics Costs is 'Development Capability' = The reason Coupang, which is still operating at a loss, is focusing on strengthening its development capabilities despite the enormous costs involved is the efficiency of its logistics system. Coupang appears to have a plan to reduce logistics costs, the main cause of trillion-won losses, through development capabilities amid continuously increasing orders after COVID-19. The hiring of CTO Pham, who worked for seven years as CTO at Uber and developed a system that analyzes and connects real-time supply and demand of drivers and passengers in cities worldwide, is evidence of this.

In fact, Coupang is introducing innovative technologies throughout the logistics process, including sorting, packaging, loading, and delivery, by applying artificial intelligence (AI) technology to logistics centers and delivery systems. The company has invested 485 billion KRW in automation equipment over the past two years. Results are also emerging. A representative example is improving operational efficiency at logistics centers using a proprietary algorithm. Jung Hyun-yeop, a backend engineer and senior manager at Coupang, explained, "Based on real-time spatial information within the logistics warehouse, the route optimization algorithm guides shelf workers to the nearest possible display locations, improving work efficiency by 235% compared to before."

◆Development Capability Essential for New Business Expansion = Development capability is also essential for expanding into various fields currently underway. The officially announced parcel delivery business and the online video service (OTT), considered a new source of revenue, are fields requiring specialized development skills. Coupang added video content-related business to its business objectives in the second half of this year and filed for trademark rights, completing groundwork for entering the OTT business. Through the OTT business, it is expected to discover new revenue sources and create synergy with existing business areas such as live commerce.

For the parcel delivery business, Coupang submitted an application for a freight motor vehicle transportation business license to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the industry expects approval within the year. This indicates that business expansion is being prepared in various directions. An e-commerce industry insider said, "Coupang's OTT business is still in its early stages, and development capabilities must continuously be applied to improve logistics system efficiency in response to the explosively increasing orders in existing businesses," adding, "Recruitment of development talent will continue both domestically and internationally."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.