While Coupang Stumbles, Naver Surges Ahead... Fierce 'Second Place Battle' with C-Commerce

Coupang's MAU Declines After One Month of Growth
Naver Plus Store Up 5.5%
Aliexpress Slips, Temu Stands Out

Coupang's monthly active user count (MAU) has returned to a downward trend after just one month. In contrast, Naver Plus Store has continued its rapid growth, closing in on Chinese e-commerce (C-commerce) platforms. Although Coupang continues to dominate the domestic e-commerce market, competition for the second spot between Naver and C-commerce players is intensifying.

According to WiseApp·Retail, a retail analytics service, as of April, Coupang ranked first among domestic general mall apps, recording 33,384,346 monthly active users. However, this figure represents a 0.2% decrease compared to the previous month.

From December last year through February this year, Coupang experienced a decline in user numbers due to issues such as a personal information leak controversy. Although the company rebounded in March, it saw negative growth again after just one month.

Naver headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do. Photo by Yonhap News

Meanwhile, Naver Plus Store's growth stood out. In April, its MAU reached 8,385,113, up 5.5% from the previous month. This growth rate was the highest among the top platforms.

Notably, Naver Plus Store overtook Aliexpress (8,305,453 users) to become the third most popular general mall app. The gap with second-place Temu (8,419,232 users) has also narrowed to around 34,000 users. Since its launch last year, Naver's strategy of integrating its search, content, and membership ecosystem is seen as having contributed to the expansion of its user base.

Industry observers are focusing on the possibility that Naver Plus Store may soon surpass Temu to claim the number two spot. The competition is heating up between Naver, with its domestic user base and ecosystem, and C-commerce players, which are leveraging ultra-low-price strategies.

C-commerce platforms showed mixed results. Temu continued its growth, increasing by 3.0% from the previous month, while Aliexpress declined by 4.5%. As Aliexpress faltered, Temu appears to be solidifying its position as the leading C-commerce platform.

Meanwhile, existing domestic open markets generally performed poorly. 11st posted 7,331,856 users, down 3.5% from the previous month, and Gmarket also fell by 2.5% to 6,760,231 users. In contrast, home shopping apps CJ OnStyle (3,060,778 users) and GS SHOP (2,942,035 users) saw increases of 1.2% and 1.7%, respectively.

An industry official commented, "While Coupang is still the overwhelming market leader, its growth rate is slowing. In contrast, Naver and C-commerce platforms are competing for users by leveraging their respective ecosystem strengths and price competitiveness."

Meanwhile, WiseApp·Retail's user statistics are based on statistical estimates derived from app usage panel data.

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