Investors in South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang will scrutinize the company's financial results on Thursday to assess the impact of a massive data breach at a time when its rivals are aggressively competing for users of the platform.
The company is also under pressure from regulatory changes that could increase competition for its overnight super-fast delivery service, a core strength of Coupang's dominant market position.
Coupang's position was also put at risk when it announced in November that it had suffered a data breach affecting some 34 million users, with names, contact numbers and shipping addresses leaked, but payment information and login credentials unaffected.
The government-led investigation is still ongoing, and the South Korean science department this month updated the progress of the investigation, stating that the incident stemmed from a management error at Coupang, rather than a high-level cyberattack, and that Coupang would "take all necessary measures to prevent further damage and continue to strengthen security to prevent a recurrence of the incident".
Consumers' trust in Coupang has been shaken," said Lee Kwang-lim, executive director of the South Korean Chain Store Association, which represents major retailers such as E-mart and Lotte Mart.
According to data company WiseApp, Coupang's monthly active mobile phone users dropped by 3.5% between November and January, while competing platform Naver surged by 23% during the same period.
According to the IGAWorks Mobile Index, Coupang's average daily spending in January fell by 6.3% from November to approximately KRW139.2 billion (approximately US$97 million).
Analysts have lowered Coupang's fourth-quarter average revenue forecast by 2.2% from the previous quarter, and cut its core earnings forecast by 6.7%, according to London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).
Shares of New York-listed Coupang have fallen about 34% since the breach was announced, while shares of traditional retailers and logistics companies have risen.
The proposed regulatory changes also threaten to undermine Coupang's strengths at a time when its reputation is being tarnished. The company has built its position on Rocket Delivery, which allows users to place orders before midnight and have them delivered before midnight.
For more than a decade, South Korea has restricted large brick-and-mortar retailers from staying open overnight, a policy designed to protect small neighborhood stores; however, the regulations do not apply to e-commerce platforms like Coupang, which was founded by Harvard graduate Bom Kim in 2010 and has been able to expand rapidly.
The Government announced earlier this month that it plans to relax the restrictions on the late-night operation of large supermarkets to bring in more intense competition for courier services.
Coupang did not reply to Reuters' enquiries.
Competitors such as Ebay, Kurly and Naver have aggressively expanded their courier services to challenge Coupang. Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon said recently that the platform saw "significant" growth in the number of online users and the amount of money spent in January.
CJ Logistics, whose customers include Naver, noted that overnight or same-day delivery shipments surged 120% year-over-year in the fourth quarter.
Nevertheless, some analysts believe that Coupang's competitive pricing and users' familiarity with its diverse and integrated services will still be able to stand up to its rivals.
For the time being, there is no service as convenient as Coupang," said Seo Jung-yeon, senior analyst at Shinyoung Securities. "The key is whether ...... competitors can effectively seize the opportunity to capture market share."
Source:
https://insideretail.asia/2026/02/26/coupang-set-to-declare-fallout-from-massive-korean-data-breach/
