[Exclusive] Coupang Picks 'Short-Form' as New Revenue Stream... 'Coupang Shorts' to Launch Next Month

Beyond Advertising Space, Into Content Creation
Short-Form Videos Made Directly From Seller Products
Completed Videos Can Also Be Used on Sellers' Own Social Media

Coupang is set to launch a paid service tentatively named the “Coupang Shorts Production Package” next month, where the company will directly produce short-form videos of sellers’ products. This pushes the company’s advertising business beyond simply exposing products to consumers, by taking on the production of video content as well. The move is seen as a strategy to both reduce the burden on small and medium-sized sellers with limited video production capabilities and secure a new source of advertising revenue.

According to the retail industry on September 10, Coupang Ads, Coupang’s advertising business unit, recently announced its plan to introduce Coupang Shorts to sellers at a recent event, which will begin next month. This service provides sellers who have spent advertising money with Coupang with vertically oriented short-form videos that are planned and created for their products.

The produced videos will be shown in the Coupang Shorts section and on Coupang’s official YouTube channel, among other platforms. Advertisers will receive finished video content that they can use on their own social media channels, such as Instagram and YouTube. In effect, Coupang is packaging both production and exposure as a type of “Shorts Package.” The company explained, “We plan to launch Coupang Shorts next month,” adding, “Detailed pricing and the methods for producing and posting the videos will be announced together with the actual service launch.”

Until now, small and medium-sized sellers who wanted to create short-form video ads had to seek out separate production agencies or influencers. Costs and time were also required not only for filming and editing, but also for creating captions and selecting music for the videos. With the introduction of Coupang Shorts, sellers will be able to have Coupang handle production and then use the completed videos for both Coupang advertising and their own SNS marketing.

From Coupang’s perspective, Shorts represent a new type of advertising product. While existing search advertising has focused on product exposure, Coupang Shorts emphasize creating and showcasing products as video content. By linking these videos directly to product purchase pages, Coupang could expand this offering into an advertising product that leads consumers from viewing content all the way through to purchase.

Coupang’s push into Shorts comes as changes in consumer online shopping behavior are underway. Shoppers are shifting away from searching for products by name and price, becoming increasingly accustomed to encountering and buying products after watching short videos. With TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram all enhancing their shopping functionalities, competition within the retail sector to connect short-form content to direct sales is becoming fiercer.

The slowdown in profitability is also cited as a reason for Coupang’s expansion of its advertising business. Coupang’s sales for the second quarter of this year reached 13.3007 trillion won, up 4% year-on-year. Product commerce sales were 11.1515 trillion won, a 1% increase in dollar terms. Product commerce encompasses Coupang’s main retail business, including Rocket Delivery, Rocket Fresh, Rocket Growth, and Marketplace. The company posted an operating loss of 835 billion won and a net loss of 856 billion won—the largest quarterly loss since Coupang Inc.’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021. Losses deepened further due to both customer compensation costs following a personal data leak and an additional fine of 624.7 billion won imposed by the Personal Information Protection Commission.

Coupang is also facing intensifying competition from Naver. Coupang still has the largest user base among domestic shopping platforms. According to WiseApp Retail, Coupang’s monthly active users (MAU) reached 35.95 million last month, well ahead of Naver Plus Store’s 9.04 million. However, there is a large difference in growth rates. While Coupang’s MAU has increased by only 5.5% over the past year—from 34.06 million to 35.95 million—Naver Plus Store has seen its MAU more than double in the same period, growing from 3.87 million to 9.04 million. When it comes to new app installations per month, Naver Plus Store led with 737,931, surpassing Coupang’s 454,874.

As a result, the need for Coupang to maintain its massive user base and create new points of engagement that further increase customer shopping activity has grown. As Naver, which has strength in search-based shopping, rapidly adds users, Coupang aims to enhance the entire experience from discovery to purchase via short-form content. In particular, Shorts not only increase user engagement time, but also help convert those views into sales, making it an effective tool to expand their advertising business.

If Coupang Shorts become established, Coupang’s role could therefore expand from sales intermediary to advertising and content creator. With access to in-platform data such as product information, customer reactions, and purchase conversions, Coupang is relatively well-positioned to produce effective video content for each product. An industry official commented, “Short-form content is advantageous for purchase conversion since features can be displayed quickly, but for small sellers, actually producing such content is a burden. If Coupang provides production, exposure, and transaction connection all at once, it could help keep advertisers tied to their platform.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.