FTC targets Coupang's market power, Alibaba sizes Korean brand sales at 7.1T won, daily delivery cushions Chuseok losses, online retail sentiment improves, and the Korea Grand Festival kicks off.

Coupang faces bipartisan heat over its FTC probe, Kakao pushes agentic AI shopping, and Olive Young and Coupang expand in beauty, fresh food and delivery tech.

August online sales rose 7.3% to ₩24.21T, Coupang fights an FTC records demand and hits a 52-week low, retailers push after-sales care, and Homeplus shrinks to 67 stores.

Online retail sales jumped 9.3% on early Chuseok demand as hypermarkets retreat to food, Karrot gift-set resales surge 50%, Coupang's Good Store hits ₩200B for Jeonbuk SMEs, and a proposed law targets platform fees.

This week: Hanjin preps for the Chuseok parcel surge, Naver's AI shopping agent adds real-time delivery filtering, Coupang discounts Hanwoo beef, appliance sales keep moving online, and Korea's SME lobby pushes an online platform fairness law.

This week: Coupang's PB unit debuts offline in Seongsu, CJ Logistics opens a major cold-chain hub, lawmakers advance faster e-commerce settlement rules, KOEFA 2026 gathers 250 seller-solution firms, and Chuseok gift-set pre-orders hit record highs.

This week: Kakao preps an all-in-one paid membership, CJ Logistics puts humanoid robots to work in a live warehouse, Musinsa files for a Kospi IPO, Naver and Kakao battle for Chuseok shoppers, and Musinsa Beauty proves it can convert fashion buyers into beauty customers.

This week: Coupang faces a US class-action jurisdiction fight and an unprecedented FTC probe block, Shinsegae splits SSG.com in two, Musinsa nears its IPO filing, and Korea Customs tightens direct-purchase ID checks.

Kakao and Naver post record Q2 earnings but diverge on AI infrastructure spend, Kakao teams up with Coupang Eats on in-chat AI ordering, Lotte Mart opens a ₩1 trillion automated fulfillment center in Busan, and Musinsa Beauty's festival tickets sell out in 48 seconds.

This week: Coupang's Q2 revenue rose to $8.86B while active customers rebounded to 24.7M, Korea's consumer panel ordered Coupang to pay breach victims 100,000 won each, Coupang's Taiwan Rocket Delivery hit 70% coverage, and Kakao Pay's profit jumped 251%.

Coupang debuts on the Fortune Global 500 while battling back-to-back logistics-center fires, Korean consumer confidence hits a four-month high, Naver Pay waives summer merchant fees, and cross-border commerce startups draw fresh funding.

This week: Seoul finalizes new e-commerce rules targeting Temu, Shein and AliExpress; Uber's $14.8B Delivery Hero buyout hands it control of Baemin; a major fire at a Coupang Incheon logistics center disrupts deliveries and rattles the stock; and Musinsa launches a program to grow fashion and beauty micro-entrepreneurs.

This week: Coupang expands into digital payments and wins a court injunction against the FTC even as the dispute strains US-Korea relations, Kakao's Kanana AI assistant adds travel and booking features, and Korean cosmetics ride record exports toward the first US-listed K-beauty ETF.

This week: US-Korea trade tension over Coupang's data breach, Musinsa's pre-IPO Asia push, Naver and Kakao's AI shopping race, Homeplus's bankruptcy countdown, and a 205% surge in Korean startup funding.

This week: Naver widens its e-commerce lead over Coupang and launches agentic AI search, Coupang stock rallies on strong Prime Day data, CJ Logistics shows off AI-powered fulfillment to the World Bank, and sun-protective fashion surges on LF Mall as Korean summers heat up.

This week: Coupang stock surged 8% after its record ₩624.7B data-breach fine was settled, Korea's AI equity rout put the ₩290T leveraged ETF market under scrutiny, CLSA initiated Coupang at Outperform with a $24 target, Naver and Kakao faced mass analyst downgrades as AI monetization stalls, and AliExpress pulled ahead of Temu in Korea's C-commerce battle with a lifestyle app pivot.

This week: Coupang's record ₩624.7B privacy fine, Sam Altman's Seoul visit to Samsung/Kakao/Naver, fresh broker target cuts for Naver and Kakao, AI reshaping e-commerce design teams as online shopping hits ₩25.6T, and why follower counts don't equal loyal communities.

Coupang dominates this week's Korea e-commerce news — a Fortune 500 climb to No. 132, an AI logistics push, a looming data-breach penalty and a small-merchant academy — alongside Korea's ₩3.46tn startup ecosystem bet.

Korea's April online shopping hit a record ₩24.1 trillion (+10% YoY) as Coupang rebounded from a Q1 loss ahead of a looming data-breach penalty, Kakao plunged ~35% on strike and AI doubts, Olive Young opened its first U.S. store, and Coupang's Energy-Saving Shopping event lifted SME sales ~10%.

This week in Korean e-commerce: Baemin and Coupang Eats own 88% of food delivery as Uber-Naver bid for Baemin; legacy platforms (Gmarket, Auction, 11st) surge 7x in May; Coupang Eats free delivery sparks merchant backlash; Naver and Kakao adopt dual-stack AI (ChatGPT + Claude Code); and Korean retailers pivot from price to experience.