Major e-commerce platform Gmarket is revamping its operations to reclaim the top spot in Korea’s online retail market, backed by a new joint venture between Shinsegae Group and Alibaba International.
After the joint venture between its parent company and the global e-commerce giant received approval from the Fair Trade Commission last month, Gmarket has been ramping up investments to strengthen its seller base, develop artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and host promotional events aimed at attracting more consumers.
Based on monthly active users, Gmarket ranked fifth in Korea this month, trailing Coupang, 11Street, AliExpress and Temu in that order.
On Tuesday, Gmarket CEO James Chang held a press conference in Seoul to outline the company’s investment plan totaling 700 billion won ($492 million) for next year alone. Of that amount, 500 billion won will be allocated to supporting existing sellers, while 20 billion won will be earmarked for new sellers and small- and medium-sized enterprises — marking a 50 percent increase from the previous year.
Gmarket will also allocate 100 billion won annually to hosting consumer promotion events and another 100 billion won to developing artificial intelligence technologies. Starting next year, the company plans to develop a multimodal search feature capable of detecting users’ emotions and preferences to recommend personalized products.
“By taking advantage of Alibaba’s AI technologies and Shinsegae’s retail ecosystem, we will be the best e-commerce platform for both sellers and consumers,” Chang said.
Gmarket aims to reach an annual gross merchandise volume of 1 trillion won within five years, targeting hundreds of millions of new customers worldwide to achieve this goal.
Gmarket’s overseas operations are currently active in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. Its market network is powered by Lazada Group, a major Southeast Asian e-commerce platform and subsidiary of Alibaba Group. The Korean company is currently distributing 20 million products from Korean sellers to 160 million Lazada customers across the region.
Gmarket said it plans to eventually expand into South Asian and Southern European markets, followed by North and South America and the Middle East. Its core offerings will focus on K-branded products, including beauty, fashion and food. The company also plans to leverage Alibaba’s global distribution channels and direct sourcing system to procure European and other international brands that are difficult to supply domestically.
“I co-founded Lazada in Southeast Asia in 2012 when I knew nothing about e-commerce. That’s when I benchmarked Gmarket, which was thriving at the time,” Chang said. “We have recently completed our integration with Lazada, and products from both companies are now being synchronized. Our first target is one of Gmarket’s annual promotion events, Big Smile Day.”
