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Coupang reports 24% revenue boost, $436M profit for 2024

Published: 26 Feb. 2025, 11:11 Updated: 26 Feb. 2025, 18:41

CHO YONG-JUN
[email protected]

A Coupang delivery truck at a parking lot in Jung District, central Seoul, in August 2024. [NEWS1]

Coupang's annual revenue rose 24 percent last year, driven by the growth of its e-commerce platform in Taiwan and luxury shopping platform, Farfetch.

The e-commerce operator reported annual revenue of $30.3 billion in 2024. Operating profit, however, slipped 2.4 percent to $436 million, marking the first time the e-commerce giant has recorded operating income in consecutive years.

Coupang acquired a stake in the London-based online luxury shopping company Farfetch for $500 million in December 2023.

“Farfetch’s losses have shrunk dramatically to a breakeven point today, and this significant turnaround was achieved with minimal loss of scale,” Coupang Inc. founder and CEO, Bom Kim told investors on Tuesday’s earnings call.

The CEO also highlighted the platform's success in Taiwan, revealing that its net revenue grew 23 percent quarter-over-quarter in the October-December period.

Coupang recently launched its WOW monthly subscription in Taiwan, offering faster delivery and exclusive discounts, similar to Amazon's Prime service. The company kicked off its Rocket Delivery service in the region in 2022.

“Our growth story extends far beyond Korea,” Kim said. “The playbook we pioneered in Korea can be applied in other markets with equal success.”

Annual net income dropped 95 percent to $66 million over the same period due largely to a tax benefit the company received the previous year.

Fourth quarter revenue increased 21 percent to $7.97 billion from the same period of 2023 while operating profit logged $312 million, up from $130 million. Coupang attributed the profit hike to a $175 million insurance payout after a fire at its fulfillment center in 2021.

Coupang's customers are also buying more expensive products, as its “product commerce active customers,” referring to people who had purchased at least once per quarter, totaled 22.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, up 10 percent from the previous year. Those active customers brought in $330 in revenue, on average, a 6 percent rise from 2023.

Despite strong competition from Chinese competitors, including AliExpress and Temu, on top of Korean platforms offering next-day deliveries, the e-commerce giant said it expects 20 percent growth in 2025, excluding Farfetch.

“Our outlook for growth continues to remain strong,” the CEO said, adding that Coupang still only accounts for “a relatively small share of the overall retail market.”

“The spend of every single quarter of our customers, even our oldest, continues to compound each year [...] driven by continuous improvement of selection, service and price.”

“Fulfillment & Logistics by Coupang continues to grow at a faster rate than our overall product commerce revenue growth,” said Coupang Inc. Chief Financial Officier Gaurav Anand. “We expect product commerce gross profit to grow faster than the related constant currency revenue.”

BY CHO YONG-JUN [[email protected]]