With the world going digital, the future of consumerism lies in e-commerce.

Almost 44.5% of the South Korean population turns to online shopping for their basic needs. Countless enterprises are adapting to the digital world to directly approach their consumers.

A South Korean, business-focused young man named Bom Kim, decided that his country shouldn’t stall away from accepting the online sphere as a market, but rather embrace it.

By establishing an online appearance with Coupang, South Korea is building the future of commerce.

Bom Kim’s Coupang is the largest South Korean online marketplace, for all things planet-Earth related.

Coupang sells millions of items, every day of the year, globally. Coupang’s goal is to appreciate every Korean customer and recognize the country as the one with the fastest-growing e-commerce opportunities on Earth.

If you want to know the fascinating story of how Bom Kim became the Bezos of South Korea, continue reading the story of Coupang.

Bright Start

Bom Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1978. Bom did not spend much time in South Korea, even though he loved his life there. As a child, his parents had jobs that required them to travel, so Bom would experience life on foot from seven years old.

Despite it being a sad memory, Bom and his relatives knew that moving to the States will be the right decision for his education. At just 13 years old, Bom Kim went to a boarding school in Massachusetts and joined the Deerfield Academy.

At first, it was difficult for him to socialize with his American contemporaries. He was shy by nature, but with time Bom grew fond of his US friends. He began adapting to the environment and the best way to do that was to join the sports teams.

It was during this time that young Bom developed a true love for sports. At the Deerfield Academy, he tried his talents at wrestling and track racing. Bom credits this period to a lot of character-building, as well as building a lot of friendships. This was the period that gave Bom the confidence he needed to succeed in the future.

Not only did Bom excel at sports, but he was also a natural scientist. He had no trouble scoring high grades and earning praises, and this is what led him on a journey to Harvard University. At the prestigious Ivy League school, Bom would try to earn an MBA in Business.

Troubling Thoughts

Even though Bom had entered the most popular and prestigious college in the world, he still did not feel at home. Bom felt home-sick and nostalgic for his past. Bom reminisced about his homeland and expressed desires to revisit South Korea. With these thoughts and feeling out of place, Bom dropped out of Harvard University.

Like many CEOs, Bom Kim shared the story of a college dropout. Even though he wasn’t attending, he remained close to his colleagues. Bom was not satisfied with just regular activities, and his adventurous spirit guided him into the world of media.

Bom tried interning at The New Republic, which boosted his further knowledge to start his own student magazine called Current.

This was a turbulent period for Bom, one of finding himself and matching his goal. For a short period, Bom worked at Boston Consulting Group. He was not vividly happy there, but luck would strike when Bom raised $4 million to start a new project – a magazine called 02138. The first copy entered the world in 2009.

Back to the Roots

When the early 2010s hit, Bom Kim was left with hundreds of ideas, and no one to listen to but himself. Bom decided to rely on his previous education and natural communicative skills and enter into the business world.

In late 2010, Bom decided to revisit South Korea for some soul searching.

While in his native cocoon, Bom felt a rush of confidence and decided to begin his own start-up journey. With that in mind, Bom launched Coupang, an e-commerce platform that will mimic Amazon, for South Koreans.

The online marketplace will offer all things humans need. From fresh groceries to technology, Coupang is the lazy shopper’s dream come true. Bom Kim used his wits to outsmart the economy. He knew that South Korea’s market will eat up an all-including e-platform, so this was the right approach to it.

Successful Milestones

What made Coupang such an instant hit was its rocket-speed delivery of products.

Bom Kim knew that a satisfied customer is a goal to the longevity of every e-commerce, so he decided to implement a single-day delivery. A clever thing Bom Kim did was register Coupang as a liability company in the United States. This way he was allowed exposure to more US funding rounds.

After a few years of its launch, Coupang included over 5 million, one-of-a-kind products for more new-coming buyers. Bom aimed for extra-accelerated speed delivery, and by that time, Coupang claimed to deliver 99.6% of orders within a span of 24 hours.

A year after its launch, Coupang had raised $18M in a venture round from Atlas Ventures. Bom was thrilled with the success, but he did not know how many were coming in the next decade.

In December of 2014, Coupang raised $300M from a private equity round. This was an awe-inspiring moment that truly showed the power of the internet.

Bright Opportunities

Coupang had finally become the go-to app for shopping in South Korea.

Bom’s Coupang managed to hit another huge milestone when it raised a mind-blowing sum of $1B for its private equity round in 2015, courtesy of SoftBank.

The last successful milestone was reached in 2018 when Coupang seized a whopping $2B from SoftBank Vision Fund. By 2019, Bom Kim and his Coupang revealed revenue of 7.15 trillion. Bom believes that this was due to their speedy delivery.

The pandemic actually worked in Coupang’s favor.

As when all marketplaces were closed, the world had to rely on online shopping which increased the sales for Coupang. In 2020, Coupang acquired HOOQ, a streaming service that will later be known as Coupang Play. This was an attempt to give customers more engagement and keep them entertained.

Bom Kim did not forget where he spent his youth, so in 2021, he opened up an initial public offering fund, on the New York Stock Exchange. His motivation was to raise as much capital, and have Coupang top rivals like Amazon. In 2021, Coupang sales increased to an incredible 74%, or $4.26.86 billion in that year.

After its IPO, Coupang started to equip offices in Japan and Taiwan.

Coupang, Today

Coupang’s headquarters are in Bom Kim’s childhood home, Seoul, South Korea. The company spread its wings to the West as well, opening offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Coupang is incorporated in Delaware, US.

Coupang’s did more than just fulfill the needs of the customers, but also provided jobs for dozens of unemployed individuals. The company had also earned over 24 different investors who believed in its capabilities. In 2018, Coupang opened 25,000 new job posts for unemployed South Koreans.

As some reports state, Coupang is stated to have a value of $9B. This is because Bom Kim knew what his former country lacked, and he contributed to its digital modernization.

By bringing the world of e-commerce closer to consumers and rewarding them with fast deliveries was the key to Coupang’s accelerated lift to the top.

Bom never forgot his roots, and being blessed with a creative knack for things, he gifted back to his community. He went from a traveling Korean to a Harvard dropout to CEO of the ‘South Korean Amazon’.

Thanks to Coupang, every Korean will have their product shipped safely and soundly in the comfort of their home, with only a few hours to wait!