E-Commerce Strikes Back Against Coupang and Naver... 'May Shopping Festival' Sees Transaction Volume Surge Sevenfold

Gmarket and Auction Surpass 30 Million Cumulative Site Visitors
11st Achieves 20 Million Visitors for Two Consecutive Years
Clear Polarization in Consumer Spending on Home Appliances and Daily Necessities
Mobile App Users Also Increase by Over 1 Million Each
Potential for Competitors to Formalize Discount Promotions

The May discount events held by e-commerce platforms such as Gmarket, Auction, and 11st have significantly boosted visitor numbers and increased transaction volume by up to seven times. This result comes at a time when rival platforms have seen stagnation or slight declines in user numbers. The analysis suggests that, by adding a major discount promotion in the first half of the year—targeting the demand for gifts in Family Month—these platforms have successfully established a spring counterpart to November's Black Friday.

According to the industry on May 20, Gmarket and Auction saw cumulative site visitors surpass 30 million as of May 18 during their biggest shopping festival of the first half, the 'May Big Smile Day,' which ran from May 6 to 19. This is a notable increase compared to previous editions of the same event, which had fewer than 20 million visitors. The company explained that interest was heightened by featuring director Jang Hang-jun, who attracted 10 million box office viewers, alongside actors Jang Hyuk and Park Sung-woong as event models. Additionally, the 'Special Deal (10 Million Box Office Deal),' which selected 1,000 popular products and offered them at the lowest prices of the year, received a strong response.

The average daily transaction volume for Big Smile Day event products increased more than threefold compared to normal periods, while the average daily transaction volume for the 10 Million Box Office Deal rose about sevenfold. A Gmarket representative analyzed that, as the consumption trend of "super-polarization (M-shaped)" intensified, relatively high-priced items such as laptops, robot vacuum cleaners, and refrigerators performed well, while many consumers also purchased daily necessities such as toilet paper and bottled water when prices were low. The best-selling item was the 'Roborock Robot Vacuum Cleaner,' with sales exceeding 4.1 billion won.

11st's largest shopping festival of the first half, the 'May Grand Sibiriljeol,' held from May 6 to 16, also drew significant attention, with a total of 20 million users accessing the mobile application during the event period. Since the event's first launch in May last year, 11st has recorded over 20 million visitors for two consecutive years. By product category, home appliances such as laptops, TVs, and washing machines with significant discounts proved popular, and the transaction volume in the domestic accommodation category stood out, increasing by 72% compared to last year’s event. Notably, the exclusive special offer on 11st for the five-star 'Paradise City Hotel Room Package' achieved sales of over 1.7 billion won during the event.

These platforms have added a large-scale discount event in May for the first half of the year, in addition to the annual Black Friday in November, which is the focus of both online and offline retailers. The intention was to target the season when demand for family gifts rises, such as Children’s Day and Parents’ Day. It also reflects the aim to offset a relative decline in interest in online shopping due to the fine weather and the start of outdoor activities by holding discount events during this period.

Since Gmarket first launched a May discount event in 2019, and with 11st joining last year, the number of application (app) users for these platforms has also increased during the event period. According to WiseApp·Retail, an app and retail analytics solution, the weekly active users (WAU) of the Gmarket app were around 3.84 million and 3.74 million in the last week of April and the first week of May, respectively, before the start of Big Smile Day. However, during the two weeks of the event, the figures rose to 4.58 million and 4.78 million, an increase of over 1 million. During a similar period, the WAU for the 11st app also jumped by more than 1 million, from 3.04 million and 3.29 million to around 4.08 million.

During the same period, the Coupang app, which is number one in user numbers, remained relatively stable at the high end of 28 million, and the Naver Plus Store app also showed limited fluctuation, staying between 5.2 million and 5.3 million users. An industry insider commented, "In the online market, consumers tend to choose and move between platforms based on discount rates, so when promotions are concentrated, both visitor numbers and transaction volume increase. Competitors may also formalize similar types of events to minimize customer attrition."

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