South Korea’s Gmarket Takes on EBay
The thumping pop music and blaring lights at Seoul’s Dongdaemun market keep going all night long as shoppers swarm around merchants hawking the latest trendy fashions at rock-bottom prices.
South Korea’s Gmarket Inc. seems to have captured the energy of that raw commerce and made a home for it on the Internet, creating a Web site that has quickly become a top online destination in this computer-savvy nation. It’s going head-to-head with eBay Inc.’s Korean subsidiary.
Gmarket has drawn the interest of U.S.-based Yahoo Inc., which recently bought a 9 percent stake. It went public in June, offering shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market, and is pondering future expansion, with an eye to entering Japan next year and later moving into China and the U.S.
The company, which doesn’t stock inventory, offers online storefronts and a variety of tools to make it easier for sellers to set up shop and manage inventory. Gmarket handles payments, earning its revenue from transaction fees that vary depending on the product.
