Coupang Reports Q1 Operating Profit of 53.1 Billion KRW, Down 61% YoY (2nd Report)

Net Income Turns Negative for Only 7 Quarters
Sales Surpass 9 Trillion Won for the First Time Ever

Coupang surpassed 9 trillion won in sales for the first time in the first quarter of this year, but operating profit was halved, resulting in a net loss.

Coupang, a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, announced on the 8th that its operating profit for the first quarter of this year was $40 million (approximately 53.1 billion won, based on an exchange rate of 1,328.45 won), down 61% from the same period last year. This is the first time since the third quarter of 2022, when Coupang first turned an operating profit, that its operating profit has decreased year-on-year.

The net loss was $24 million (approximately 31.9 billion won), marking a return to deficit after seven quarters since the second quarter of 2022. Previously, Coupang had posted net profits for six consecutive quarters from the third quarter of 2022 through the fourth quarter of last year. In the first quarter of last year, it recorded a net profit of $90.85 million (approximately 116 billion won).

Coupang Headquarters, Songpa-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Sales increased by 28% to $7.114 billion (9.4505 trillion won). Even excluding the first-quarter sales of Farfetch, which was acquired in January and reflected for the first time this quarter ($288 million, 382.4 billion won), sales grew 23% year-on-year to 9.068 trillion won. This is the first time Coupang has exceeded 9 trillion won in quarterly sales.

Product commerce sales, including Rocket Delivery and Rocket Fresh, reached $6.494 billion (8.6269 trillion won), up 20% from the same period last year. The number of active customers for Coupang’s product commerce services such as Rocket Delivery increased 16% year-on-year to 21.5 million from 18.6 million. Sales per active product commerce customer were $3.15 million (418,460 won).

Sales from growth businesses such as Coupang Eats, the Taiwan business, and Farfetch reached $620 million (823.6 billion won), more than quadrupling compared to $142 million (181.3 billion won) in the same period last year. The company attributed this to the inclusion of Farfetch.

EBITDA losses from growth businesses expanded fourfold year-on-year to $186 million (247 billion won). This includes Farfetch’s EBITDA loss of 41.1 billion won ($31 million).

Garab Anand, Coupang’s CFO, said, "These results reflect Coupang’s efforts to enhance customer experience and operational excellence. Coupang’s market share in the $560 billion commerce market is still in the single digits, and we will continue to focus on 'customer wow' going forward."

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