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The e - commerce grocery in South Korea ranks as one of the largest in the world , but it ’s also proving to be a precarious one . On Thursday , South Korea ’s Fair Trade Commission denote that it had launched an investigation into two major South Korean e - commerce platforms own byQoo10 — Ticket Monster ( TMON ) andWeMakePrice — for failing to compensate out funds to merchant .
South Korean officials aver that some 60,000 merchants are collectively owed $ 123 million ( 170 billion KRW ) . Both companies have hard currency liquidity problems , so to shore up operations , they have also stopped release refunds to consumer . Meanwhile , South Korean bank have also temporarily arrest loanword servicing to TMON and WeMakePrice , due to payment delay , according to local medium reports .
The situation underscore the finespun and free-enterprise state of the mart in the country . Naver , Coupang , and SSG currently are the largest participant in the country ’s e - commerce marketplace , but together as of 2022 , they accounted for a marketplace share of only 45 % . In a business where profitableness is highly dependent on economy of scale , there are many others duking it out for even smaller market portion , and many of these have been struggle and making loss .
The ecosystem effect has been swift forQoo10 . InterPark Triple , which sell travel products on the platforms , said it would cease to do so if not pay by today , July 25 . Yanolja , InterPark Triple ’s parent , said in an emailed statement that it has stopped betray on both platforms already .
Qoo10 , TMON and WeMakePrice did not immediately respond to a TechCrunch asking for comment .
Local media are pointing the finger at Qoo10 — specifically at a series of acquisitions that the parent party made over the last few years , often of underperform e - commerce platform . In summation toacquiring WeMakePrice in April 2023 , andTMON in August 2022 , it foot up Korean online shopping platformInterPark Commerce ( not the same as InterPark Triple ) in March 2023and Hong Kong - based Korchina Logisticsvia its logistics unit Qxpress . sooner this class , Qoo10 also acquiredWish , the U.S.-based eastward - commercialism platform , andAK Mall , an eastward - commerce company in South Korea .
These acquisitions were part of Qoo10 ’s expansion scheme , aiming to strengthen its food market presence and gear up for an initial public offer on Nasdaq in the U.S. However , they also brought about fiscal essence and operational challenges , leading to the current liquidity crisis .
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Founded in 2010 , Qoo10 is a Singapore - headquartered joint speculation firm work by the U.S. e - commerce society eBay and Gmarket founder Young - bae Ku , a celebrated e - commerce magnate in South Korea . It ’s presently backed by KKR , among others .
Ku constitute Gmarket in 2000 in South Korea and expanded its occupation into Japan in 2007 and Singapore in 2008 . After Ku sold Gmarket ’s South Korean unit to eBay in 2009 , Gmarket rebranded as Qoo10 in 2012 and penetrated other Asiatic markets , including Singapore , Japan , Indonesia , Malaysia , China , Hong Kong , andIndia . ( Gmarket listed in the U.S.via American Depositary Sharesin 2006 . ) In 2018,eBay acquired Giosis’business , including Qoo10 ’s Japanese whole , for $ 573 million .
