Gmarket bets ₩700B a year to reverse falling sales and chase ₩40T goal

South Korean e-commerce platform Gmarket will invest 700 billion won a year in seller support, customer perks, and AI, shifting from cost-cutting to a growth strategy aimed at rebuilding gross merchandise value (GMV). The spending breaks down into 500 billion won for seller support, 100 billion won for promotions including free returns, and 100 billion won for AI search and recommendation upgrades.

Gmarket has posted years of losses. Revenue fell from 1.197 trillion won in 2023 to 961.2 billion won in 2024 and 740.4 billion won in 2025, while operating losses widened from 32 billion won to 122.4 billion won over the same period.

The investment is the first step toward a target set after Shinsegae and Alibaba International launched a joint venture: reaching 40 trillion won in GMV within five years. More than 70% of the funds go to sellers, whose products draw customers and restore the marketplace flywheel.

First-half GMV rose 14% year on year, with average order value up 12% and conversion up 14%. Sellers numbered 660,000 as of 1 July 2026, up 5%, and cross-border GMV more than doubled versus the prior half. Some 17,000 domestic sellers now join Gmarket's global program, and first-half GMV through Lazada jumped 102%.

A GMV rebound may not translate into profit soon. Expanded seller support, free returns, and aggressive marketing all raise short-term costs.

Gmarket is accepting planned losses to reclaim scale in a market Coupang (roughly 50 trillion won in annual GMV) and Naver (about 40 trillion won) now dominate — for now, restoring transaction volume and its customer base matters more than short-term profit.