[비즈한국] Criticism is mounting that "Rocket Growth," which Coupang has touted as a support measure for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), is essentially nothing more than a ladder to lure sellers into its "Rocket Delivery" service. There is a growing pattern of Coupang unilaterally suspending inventory intake for sellers who have grown through Rocket Growth and then pushing them to switch to Rocket Delivery.
Growth for small businesses? “Once you hit sales targets, you’re forced to switch to Rocket Delivery”
Brand A, which sells electronic goods, has recently faced deep concerns regarding its sales on Coupang. It had been generating stable revenue through Rocket Growth, but received a notice last month that inventory intake for its products would be suspended. According to Brand A, Coupang proposed that they switch from Rocket Growth to Rocket Delivery; when they refused, Coupang immediately blocked them from restocking their items via Rocket Growth.
An official from Brand A stated, “In June, we received an email from Coupang stating that they ‘might restrict the Rocket Growth service.’ The reason given was that ‘the number of partner companies is increasing, making it difficult to provide service to everyone.’ Later, a Rocket Delivery representative contacted us and proposed moving the service to Rocket Delivery instead of Rocket Growth. When we declined, the Rocket Growth intake was completely halted last month.”
Rocket Growth is a fulfillment service launched by Coupang in 2023. When an SME stocks their items, Coupang handles the entire process, including storage, packaging, inventory management, delivery, and returns. In the Coupang app, these are identified by a “Seller Rocket” badge. In contrast, Rocket Delivery is a method where Coupang directly purchases the products to sell to consumers.
Sellers generally prefer Rocket Growth over Rocket Delivery. With Rocket Delivery, because Coupang directly purchases the products, Coupang holds the power to decide pricing and inventory levels. Above all, the commission burden is heavy. One seller criticized, “The commission for Rocket Growth is around 8%, which comes to about 15% including logistics costs. But if you switch to Rocket Delivery, the commission starts at around 30%. Initially, it’s 30%, but because Coupang later demands unilateral reductions in supply prices, the effective commission continues to rise. Coupang is forcing companies that have grown their sales through Rocket Growth to switch to Rocket Delivery to increase their commission revenue.”
Another seller added, “About 30% of my current sales come from Coupang, so I can’t leave. It’s frustrating that I feel forced to switch to Rocket Delivery just because that’s what Coupang wants. Rocket Growth is essentially just a tool to provide sales and sourcing data to Coupang. They package it as if it’s for supporting small businesses, but the structure, which forces a switch to Rocket Delivery once sales perform well, is very malicious.”
A transcript of a meeting between a brand company and a Coupang official obtained by BizHankook revealed the internal strategy of the company. It appears that to expand profitability, Coupang has an internal policy of moving sellers who achieve a certain level of sales through Rocket Growth over to Rocket Delivery.
In the transcript, a Coupang official explained, “The company classifies sellers into 1P (Rocket Delivery), 2P (Rocket Growth), and 3P (Open Market sellers). We try to get sellers to sign up as 3P first, then encourage them to use 2P once they start generating sales. Internally, there is a sales regulation. It is the company’s strategy to move Rocket Growth sellers to Rocket Delivery once they meet a certain sales standard.”
The official added, “We created Rocket Growth to generate profit and manage relationships with the government. In the beginning, we accepted sellers without clear criteria, so many home appliance companies joined, but home appliances take up a lot of space in logistics centers, which is a burden. Since the company only makes a profit if logistics turnover is high, we will significantly reduce the portion of home appliances, and restrictions on intake will be further strengthened.”
BizHankook requested a response from Coupang regarding the Rocket Growth operation method mentioned in the transcript, but did not receive a specific answer. Coupang merely stated, “Due to the convenience of the Rocket Growth service, the number of sellers wanting to use it is continuously increasing, but there are cases where product registration for Rocket Growth is limited due to constraints in logistics centers and personnel. We are taking necessary procedures, such as prior notice and grace periods, to ensure that sellers are sufficiently aware of this in advance. Furthermore, sellers can continue to sell their products through other services such as the Marketplace, in addition to Rocket Growth.”
Sellers: “If you get marked, you might end up on a ‘blacklist’ and have your account suspended”
Recently, it has not been uncommon for external agencies to contact sellers immediately after they receive notice of an inventory suspension for Rocket Growth. These agencies approach them under the pretext of “helping to resume Rocket Growth intake” and demand high commissions.
One seller said, “Immediately after I received the notice of Rocket Growth inventory suspension from Coupang, I was contacted by an agency. When I asked how they knew the intake was suspended, they said, ‘We are from Coupang, so we can check internal information.’ They were tracking my company’s Coupang account status in real-time. As cases of Coupang forcing Rocket Growth sellers to transfer to Rocket Delivery appear across all categories, there is an atmosphere where companies that receive internal information from Coupang are making sales pitches in this manner.”
Sellers are sensitive to the leak of sensitive information such as sales accounts or current revenue status. However, they are in a situation where they cannot publicly raise issues. The aforementioned seller stated, “There is a concern that any business owner who rebels against or criticizes Coupang’s policy can have their account suspended at any time. Because sellers are highly dependent on Coupang, it is difficult to challenge even unfair operating methods.”
The seller further pointed out, “According to personnel who previously worked at Coupang, there is a separate ‘blacklist’ for managing sellers internally. If you get on the blacklist, your brand or account can be suspended, and if that happens, selling on Coupang becomes difficult. Because of this, the reality is that sellers have no choice but to stay silent despite Coupang’s unfair measures.”
BizHankook requested confirmation regarding the circumstances of internal information leaks and the allegations of operating a seller blacklist, but Coupang did not provide a separate statement.