Coupang: Korean E-Commerce Craze - [Business Breakdowns, EP.169]

Today, we are breaking down the South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang. If we ran through the taxonomy of investor interests, this Coupang conversation checks many boxes on that list. It is a founder-owned and operated business, a business that went through a massive pivot years into existence, a business that's replicating the Amazon model to success, and a business with healthy debates on the TAM & financial trajectory going forward. Our guest today is Drew Cohen from Speedwell Research. We want Business Breakdowns to be the most efficient way for you to learn about a company, so we pack that information as densely as possible into about an hour of each episode, but if you are itching for more on Coupang, check out Drew's full report at speedwellresearch.com . Please enjoy this Breakdown of Coupang. Register for the Business Breakdowns x Founders Conference. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Public : Invest in stocks, bonds, options, crypto, and more in one place. A High-Yield Cash Account is a secondary brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Funds from this account are automatically deposited into partner banks where they earn a variable interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance. Neither Public Investing nor any of its affiliates is a bank. US only. Learn more at public.com/disclosures/high-yield-account . ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes . Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @ReustleMatt | @domcooke | @zbfuss Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant ( https://thepodcastconsultant.com ). Show Notes (00:00:00) Welcome to Business Breakdowns (00:04:52) An Overview of Coupang (00:07:49) Coupang's Founder Story (00:10:46) The Pivot to Amazon Model (00:13:49) Coupang's Logistics and Delivery Innovations (00:17:32) Coupang's Market Position and Competition (00:25:24) Consumer Behavior and Market Dynamics (00:34:15) Understanding Gross Margins and GMV (00:36:48) Operating Leverage and Logistics Infrastructure (00:38:06) Future Growth and Market Expansion (00:41:30) Advertising and Brand Dynamics (00:48:59) Competitive Landscape and Risks (00:56:12) Valuation and Market Perception (00:59:15) Key Lessons from Coupang's Success