Coupang's payment volume and user numbers, which had declined amid a "Coupang exodus" movement following a personal data breach last November, have surpassed pre-breach levels within six months, according to data.
Coupang's estimated credit and debit card payments in June totaled 4.8337 trillion won, according to IGAWorks' Mobile Index on Saturday. That is 360.1 billion won more than in November last year (4.4735 trillion won), when the personal data breach came to light, and 811.8 billion won more than in February this year (4.0219 trillion won), the low point. It marked the second consecutive month in the 4.8 trillion won range, following May (4.8596 trillion won).
User numbers showed the same trend. Coupang's monthly active users (MAU) last month reached 35.09 million, more than 670,000 above the level at the time of the breach (34.42 million).
Analysts interpret this as a result of daily-life services such as Rocket Delivery and dawn delivery being combined with everyday consumption, while a membership-based base of loyal users prevented defections. Although a movement to cancel memberships emerged among some consumers immediately after the breach, analysts say they could not easily break their reliance on Coupang at the actual spending stage.
However, it is difficult to say the situation has been fully resolved. Controversy continues over the scale of the breach's damage and responsibility for the response, and some observers say distrust among consumers sensitive to personal data protection could resurface at any time.
Meanwhile, the payment figures are estimates for credit and debit cards verified through AI algorithms, and do not include Naver Plus Store payment data.
