Coupang Inc's headquarters in Seoul. [Yonhap]
Coupang Inc's headquarters in Seoul. [Yonhap]

The wave of users quitting Coupang Inc following a personal data breach has all but disappeared within six months, with the e-commerce giant's payment volumes and active user counts climbing to record levels.

Mobile Index, a data analytics service run by AI data tech firm IGAWorks, estimated Coupang's credit and debit card payment volume at 4.83 trillion won ($3.11 billion) in June.

The June figure was about 25.9 billion won below the 4.86 trillion won recorded in May, but it surpassed the 4.47 trillion won logged in November last year — when the data breach first came to light — by roughly 360.1 billion won.

Compared with December last year, when payments stood at 4.34 trillion won, the June figure represents an increase of about 496.3 billion won. Coupang's payment volume had dipped to 4.02 trillion won in February before gradually recovering, posting back-to-back monthly totals in the 4.8 trillion won range over the past two months.

User numbers also exceeded the level seen at the time of the breach. Coupang's monthly active users reached about 35.09 million in June, up roughly 109,000 from about 34.98 million the previous month.

The June figure also represents an increase of more than 671,500 compared with November last year, when the data leak surfaced and monthly active users stood at about 34.42 million.

Analysts attribute the recovery in Coupang's payments and user base to the platform's repeat-purchase model centered on daily necessities and food, its fast delivery service, and a loyal membership-driven customer base.

While some consumers moved to cancel their accounts in what was dubbed the "quit Coupang" trend immediately after the breach, analysts say users in practice found it difficult to break their dependence on the platform.

Lifestyle-integrated services such as Rocket Delivery and dawn delivery have become so embedded in daily shopping routines that user attrition did not persist despite the data leak controversy.

The fallout from the breach has not been fully resolved, however. A police investigation into the scale of the leak and responsibility for the company's response remains ongoing.


20ki@heraldcorp.com