Despite troubles, Coupang’s transaction volume hits record high

A Coupang truck is parked in Seoul on Jan. 23. [NEWS1]

 
Coupang’s estimated transaction volume rose to a record 66 trillion won ($45.6 billion) last year, even as the company grappled with one of Korea’s largest personal data breaches, according to data released Tuesday. 
 
Wiseapp Retail said the e-commerce giant recorded an estimated 66.21 trillion won in transactions in 2025, a 12.8 percent increase from the previous year and the highest level since tracking began. Growth, however, slowed after the company disclosed a major data leak in November. 
 
 
Coupang revealed last November that unauthorized access to its internal systems had exposed personal information linked to about 33.7 million customers. 
 
Wiseapp’s estimate is based on credit and debit card transaction data for Coupang and its food delivery service, Coupang Eats, collected through sample surveys over the past three years. The figures exclude payments made by bank transfer, cash or gift certificates, meaning actual sales were likely higher.
 
Coupang Eats also posted a record high, with estimated transaction volume reaching 11.36 trillion won in 2025, up about 58 percent from 7.18 trillion won from the previous year.
 
Growth, however, showed signs of slowing. Coupang’s annual estimated transaction growth rate of about 12.8 percent last year fell roughly 4 percentage points from the 16.8 percent growth recorded between 2023 and 2024. Analysts point to the personal data breach disclosed in November 2025 as a factor behind the slowdown.
 
Against this backdrop, Coupang released the results of an internal probe on the data leak incident on Dec. 25, 2025. 
 
“A former Chinese employee had held about 3,000 pieces of customer personal data and later deleted them,” the company said. “No data leaked outside the firm.” 
 
Police and a joint public-private investigation team have constantly rejected that explanation. 
 
“The number of leaked records containing customer personal information such as names or email addresses exceeds 30 million when measured by user accounts,” said Park Jeong-bo, chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Monday. “Coupang claims only 3,000 records leaked, but far more data were exposed.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY NOH YU-RIM [[email protected]]