I often meet a lot of importers and distributors as I do joint purchases on YouTube. I have meetings almost 2-3 times a week. Most of them sell their stuff on Coupang. With all the small shopping malls failing and Gmarket, 11th Street, and Hi-Mart breaking down violently, Coupang and Naver are almost the only outlets. But all the companies hate Coupang in unison. As if restaurants are using Baedal Minjok to cry and eat.

One of the problems with Coupang they say is payment. The average payment is 40 to 60 days, and small companies have a significantly lower turnover rate. It is said that due to the delay in the payment date, the purchase of goods is delayed, and the opportunity to rotate once more is missed. On the other hand, Naver says it is within a week. Companies want to use only Naver, but since there are still many sales on Coupang, they have no choice but to do Coupang with crying.

Second, it is even more serious. If there are signs of success among the items imported by a company and the importer is small, Coupang directly contracts with an overseas company and takes away the items. As Coupang is listed in the U.S. and orders far more items than existing importers, foreign brands often break their existing contracts and sign contracts with Coupang. Existing companies take away items, but they often can’t complain anywhere.

Third, it’s very bad, too. Let’s say an item suddenly becomes popular. Coupang’s MD preferentially floats Coupang search by purchasing items with similar design and performance in China in large quantities. At a cheaper and more competitive price than trending items. I found the item with difficulty, but Coupang earns much of its fruits.

Knowing this backstory naturally made me stay away from Coupang. Most YouTubers and influencer don’t even do Coupang Partners.
In fact, the profiteering and unfairness of platform companies and portals were not yesterday and today’s story. So was Daum, so was Naver, and so is Baedal Minjok. However, Coupang is more dangerous in that it can devastate existing players in the industry because it can play as players themselves, not just through platforms or broadcasting.

If you are , someday you will retire and be able to run a cafe, restaurant, car wash, small trade, or some self-employed business. The self-employed people must be able to breathe in before we can squeeze in later. So I think it’s for myself to use local cafes, local shops, local restaurants, and local self-employed people at least once more. I’m timidly praying that giant monsters like Coupang won’t eat everything up until I retire, but I don’t think it’s going to be easy.