Coupang Inc
For the period ended Dec 31, 2023. Filed Feb 28, 2024.
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A company's yearly report to the SEC, with audited financial statements. It is the fullest account a company gives of its business, its finances and the risks it sees.
FY2023 · Filed Feb 28, 2024
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Item 1. Business
The Company
We have created and continue to build a next generation experience for retail. By investing for the long term with a fanatical culture of customer centricity, we believe we are delivering a superior customer experience at a lower cost as we continue to redefine retail standards worldwide. Our efforts have centered on building an end-to-end integrated system of technology and infrastructure, and most importantly, an innovation-focused culture driven to raise our customers’ expectations and lead them to wonder “How did I ever live without Coupang?”
Our Customer Experience
We are committed to delivering a “wow” experience to all of our customers every day. This commitment drives every aspect of our operations and pushes us to redefine the standards of the retail experience. We reimagined the retail customer experience with our Rocket Delivery service in Korea:
Dawn and Same-Day Delivery. Orders are delivered within hours via Dawn Delivery (ordered as late as midnight, arrive before 7am) or Same-Day Delivery (ordered in the morning, arrive same-day).
Next-Day Delivery. Customers are eligible for free, one-day delivery nationwide 365 days a year.
Frictionless Returns. Our customers simply tap a button on the app and leave the item outside their door for pickup. Refunds are initiated the moment the item is picked up at the door.
In addition to Rocket Delivery available across Korea, our Rocket WOW membership program allows members to enjoy unlimited free shipping with no minimum spend, free unlimited returns for 30 days, delivery of groceries via Rocket Fresh, discounts on restaurant orders via Coupang Eats, and content streaming on Coupang Play. We believe the success of these offerings demonstrates the power of our network to extend offerings to our loyal customers.
In January 2024 we acquired the business and assets of Farfetch, a leading global marketplace for the luxury fashion industry which connects customers with some of the world’s best boutiques and brands.
Our Merchant Experience
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on Coupang form an essential part of our business, and we strive to be a growth driver for these companies through our win-win model. Over 75% of Coupang merchants are SMEs, which can leverage our nationwide fulfillment and logistics infrastructure to connect with millions of customers. We’ve supported these SMEs, helping them in everything from marketing and logistics to customer service. We also continue to develop new ways for SMEs to unlock growth through Coupang, such as Coupang Private Label Brands, through which we work mostly with SMEs to develop and market high-quality products for customers marketed under our private label brand, at affordable prices. We also launched Rocket Overseas to customers in Taiwan, empowering SME partners to unlock even more growth through sales to customers outside of Korea, at no additional effort or cost on their part.
We offer merchants of all sizes the opportunity to sell on Coupang and provide effective solutions to improve their customer experiences and enhance demand generation. Our fulfillment & logistics by Coupang (“FLC”) offering empowers merchants by offering them our fulfillment, logistics, delivery, and customer service network services.
Advertising
We also have offerings for our suppliers and merchants to advertise on our websites and mobile applications.
Our Competition
We compete with: (1) offline, online, and omnichannel retailers, suppliers, distributors, manufacturers, and producers of the products we offer and sell to consumers and businesses; (2) web search engines, comparison shopping websites, social networks, web portals, and other online and app-based means of discovering, using, or acquiring goods and services, either directly or in collaboration with other retailers; (3) companies that provide retail merchant services; (4) companies that sell grocery products online and offline; (5) on-demand food delivery services; (6) companies that provide fulfillment and logistics services for themselves or for third parties; (7) companies that provide online advertising products and services; (8) on-demand streaming entertainment services; and (9) financial services companies, including credit card issuers and payment platforms.
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Seasonality
Our overall operating results may fluctuate from quarter to quarter as a result of a variety of factors, including seasonal factors, economic cycles that influence consumer spend, and our ability to attract and retain new customers.
Human Capital
Our global team of employees is the driving force in creating a one-of-a-kind experience for millions of customers. In the same way our employees aim to go above and beyond for our customers, we aim to go above and beyond for them. As one of the largest private sector employers in South Korea, we directly employ approximately 78,000 employees as of December 31, 2023. We believe our direct employment model, along with competitive wages, training and safety programs, and a broad range of comprehensive benefits, empowers our diverse set of employees to deliver the “wow” experiences for our customers we strive to create every day.
Most of our employees are frontline workers in our fulfillment and logistics operations, and we make their health, safety, and wellness a top priority. We've made significant investments in health and safety initiatives that helped strengthen our leading safety record, which is one of the best in the Korean logistics industry and globally 1. These investments include Coupang Care, the first paid health promotion program of its kind at scale for logistics workers in Korea. We believe the well-being of our employees is directly tied to the success of our business, and most importantly, our impact on our customers.
Intellectual Property
We rely on a combination of patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, license agreements, confidentiality procedures, non-disclosure agreements, employee non-disclosure and invention assignment agreements, and other legal and contractual rights to establish and protect our proprietary rights.
We have trademark rights in our name and other brand indicia and have trademark registrations for select marks in Korea, the United States, Taiwan and other jurisdictions around the world. We also have registered domain names for websites that we use in our business, such as www.aboutcoupang.com and similar variations.
We control access to and use of our proprietary technology and other confidential information through the use of internal and external controls, including technical and administrative security controls and contractual protections with employees, contractors, customers, and partners. It is our practice to enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements (or similar agreements) with our employees, consultants, and contractors involved in the development of intellectual property on our behalf. We also enter into confidentiality agreements with other third parties in order to limit access to, and disclosure and use of, our confidential information and proprietary information. We further control the use of our proprietary technology and intellectual property through provisions in our terms of service.
Our design logos, “Coupang,” and our other registered or common law trademarks, service marks, or trade names appearing in this Form 10-K are our property or our affiliates’ property. Other trade names, trademarks, and service marks used in this Form 10-K are the property of their respective owners.
Government Regulation
Government regulation impacts key aspects of our business. In particular, we are subject to a number of national, state/region, and local laws, standards and regulations in Korea, the U.S., Taiwan, China, and other jurisdictions where we operate. These laws and regulations involve matters that are often central to our business, including our interactions with customers, suppliers, and merchants. They may regulate fair trade, competition, labor and employment, privacy, data protection, intellectual property, consumer protection, import and export regulations, and other subjects. These regulations are often complex and subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and as a result, their application in practice may change or develop over time through judicial decisions or as new guidance or interpretations are provided by regulatory and governing bodies, such as federal, state, and local administrative agencies.
For additional information, see the risk factors herein in Part I—Item 1A.“Risk Factors” under the sub-caption “Risks Related to Laws, Regulation and Intellectual Property” in this Form 10-K.
Company Website, Social Media, and Availability of SEC Filings
Our corporate website address is http://www.aboutcoupang.com and our investor relations website is www.ir.aboutcoupang.com. Information on our website is not incorporated by reference herein and is not a part of this Form 10-K. We promptly make available on our investor relations website, free of charge, the reports that we file or furnish with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), corporate governance information (including our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics) and select press releases. We
1 Measured using work-related and accident-related fatalities.
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file annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy and information statements and amendments to reports filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a), 14, and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). The SEC maintains a website at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding Coupang and other issuers that file electronically with the SEC.
We may announce material business and financial information using our investor relations website, our filings with the SEC, webcasts, press releases, conference calls and social media. We use these mediums, including our corporate and investor relations websites, to communicate with investors and the general public about our company, our products, and other issues. It is possible that the information that we make available on our websites may be deemed to be material information. We therefore encourage investors and others interested in our Company to review the information that we make available on our websites.
Any updates to the list of disclosure channels through which we will announce information will be posted on the investor relations page on our website.
The text of this filing, as the company filed it with the SEC, without its images or exhibits. This is not investment advice.