Coupang, South Korea’s Amazon, Is Copying Its Worst Habits
The South Korean e-commerce platform Coupang has been engulfed by scandals over data breaches and dangerous work conditions. Having spent millions to lobby US politicians, the firm is now calling in their help to protect it from scrutiny by regulators.
From ruthless pricing strategies to the aggressive elimination of competition, South Korea’s Coupang has emulated Amazon’s early expansionary phase. Above all, both firms have been taking advantage of the precarity of labor to expand their territory. (SeongJoon Cho / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Coupang, an e-commerce platform that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), has been stirring public outrage over the past few months in South Korea, home to most of its colossal operations, amid revelations of massive data breaches and unsafe workplace practices.
What is happening to the South Korean multinational should reverberate beyond the country’s borders. The ways in which it has been shirking accountability and regulatory oversight, and resisting unionization efforts, speaks volumes about the future trajectory of global e-commerce platforms and their workers.
Coupang is South Korea’s answer to Amazon and Uber Eats combined. Its labor malpractices were already clear back in 2021, when the company went public on the NYSE. The past two months have validated the concerns expressed at the time.
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