Naver Plus Store is drawing in new customers at a rapid pace, narrowing the gap with Coupang Inc in South Korea's e-commerce market.
The Naver Plus Store app recorded 156,861 new installations in the week of June 15–21, according to Yonhap News Agency and Mobile Index. Coupang's app logged 87,300 new installs over the same period, meaning Naver Plus Store outpaced its rival by 1.8 times.
Monthly installation figures tell a similar story. In May, Naver Plus Store recorded 700,353 new installs, 1.7 times the 409,802 logged by Coupang.
Monthly active users are also on the rise, though Coupang still holds a commanding lead in total user numbers and continues to dominate the market.
Naver Plus Store's monthly active users climbed from about 7.77 million in March to roughly 8.75 million in May — a gain of nearly 1 million users in two months. Coupang's user base held steady at around 35 million over the same period, but Naver Plus Store's growth has allowed it to chip away at the gap.
Naver Plus Store overtook 11Street for the first time in April and has held second place in monthly active users for two consecutive months through May. Its May user count stood at 8,750,003, surpassing 11Street's 8,209,703 by about 540,000.
Naver has been growing its user base by combining AI-powered personalized recommendations, Naver Plus membership perks and delivery benefits within a single app. In a sign of that strategy's traction, AI-driven recommendations accounted for more than 50 percent of total transactions on the Naver Plus Store app in May — the first time the share has crossed that threshold.
siuu@heraldcorp.com
