E-commerce giant Coupang Inc. surpassed $30 billion in annual sales for the first time last year, driven by strong demand for its Rocket Delivery service in Taiwan and improved sales in Farfetch Holdings, the company announced on Wednesday.
Coupang's total sales in 2024 reached $30.3 billion, marking a 29 percent increase from the previous year. Total revenue for the fourth quarter alone amounted to $8 billion, reflecting a 21 percent year-on-year rise. The company's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the full year stood at $1.4 billion.
Revenue from the product commerce sector — including Rocket Delivery and Rocket Fresh — totaled $26.69 billion, representing an 18 percent increase compared to the previous year. Additionally, the number of Coupang customers grew by 10 percent to 22.8 million, with average spending per customer rising 6 percent to $320.
Coupang's strategic investments in expanding delivery services and automation have reinforced its dominant market position, particularly in Korea, the company announced.
"We made significant changes to upgrade our fulfillment and logistics processes, which enabled us this quarter to increase by 45 percent the deliveries that were either (made) same day or dawn," Coupang CEO and founder Kim Bom said in the company's earnings conference call, Wednesday. "In the process, we were able to eliminate waste in our processes and improve line-haul costs by 16 percent."
In January 2024, Coupang acquired UK-based luxury fashion retailer Farfetch, which had previously established a strong presence in the $400 billion global personal luxury goods market. Kim emphasized Farfetch’s transformation, noting that the company, once a market leader with around $4 billion in annual transaction volume, was facing declining growth metrics at the time of acquisition.
"In the year since the acquisition, our team applied relentless disciplined execution that defines Coupang's operations. Farfetch's losses have shrunk dramatically, to a breakeven run-rate today, and this significant turnaround was achieved with minimal loss of scale."
He added that Farfetch continues to attract 49 million monthly visitors across more than 190 countries and aims to expand margins this year through greater automation, technology integration and the scaling of high-margin offerings.
In Taiwan, Coupang recorded strong revenue growth in the fourth quarter, increasing 23 percent from the same period last year.
"We believe the playbook we pioneered in Korea can be applied in other markets with equal success. Our first international market, Taiwan, is a great example. We launched our full-stack e-commerce service Rocket Delivery in Taiwan in late 2022, and the customer response has been impressive," Kim said.
Meanwhile, Coupang reported a fourth-quarter operating profit of $312 million, marking a 154 percent increase from the previous year. This surge was partly attributed to a $175 million fire insurance payout related to the Deokpyeong Logistics Center in Gyeonggi Province, which was factored into the quarter's financial results.
However, Coupang's annual operating profit for 2024 recorded $436 million, a 2.4 percent decline from the prior year. The company cited several financial factors for this decrease, including a 162.8 billion won ($114 billion) fine imposed by the Fair Trade Commission and losses associated with Farfetch, both of which impacted overall profitability.
"It's worth highlighting that we have seen a significant weakening of the Korean won versus the US dollar, reaching its lowest levels in over ten years. As a result, it's especially important to review our results on a constant currency basis this quarter," Coupang Chief Financial Officer Gaurav Anand explained.
hykim@heraldcorp.com
