Coupang, a South Korean e-commerce behemoth, intends to enter the Indian market. According to government officials, the SoftBank-backed start-up has begun talks with the Indian government about entering one of the world’s largest e-commerce markets.
The query sent to Coupang remained unanswered at the time of publication.
If the Seoul-based company, also known as “Amazon of South Korea,” enters India, it will compete directly with homegrown Flipkart and Seattle-based Amazon.
Despite their success in the Indian market over the last decade, the two behemoths are facing competition from the government-backed ONDC and other homegrown e-commerce platforms such as Reliance’s JioMart and Tata Digital.
India is quickly emerging as a lucrative e-commerce market, but it is still considered underserved. According to the FIS 2023 Global Payments Report, it is expected to grow from $83 billion in 2022 to $150 billion in 2026.
Flipkart ($23 billion GMV) and Amazon ($18-20 billion GMV) are at the top of the scale, with the two controlling roughly 60% of the market. According to a report released this month by research firm Berstein, Reliance is third in e-commerce sales with $5.7 billion, driven by attractive fashion (Ajio) and JioMart (e-grocery).
Coupang’s proposal comes a year after the company announced plans to close its Japanese operations. According to a March 2022 report in The Korean Times, the company decided to withdraw from Japan 21 months after it began offering its online delivery service there.