Chinese online retail giant AliExpress has emerged as the fastest-growing app in South Korea this year.
According to WiseApp, an app and retail analytics service, AliExpress is the app that has had the most users in South Korea over the past year. AliExpress had only 3.36 million users in January, but it hit 7.07 million in November, more than double the previous figure.
AliExpress also ranked fourth in online general merchandise store standings. It closely trails Coupang, 11st, and Gmarket. Its average monthly users increased by 86.3 percent year on year, logging 4.86 million users. It already surpassed Korean shopping malls such as auction, Timon and WeMakePrice.
If this growth rate holds, it will not be long before AliExpress overtakes Gmarket. In fact, Gmarket’s average monthly active users dropped 5.2 percent year on year to 6.34 million. Second-ranked 11st posted a 3.7 percent drop.
Among young people 29 years old or younger, AliExpress was already in third place. In all generations, Coupang and 11st took first and second place, respectively, but among those in the 20s or younger, AliExpress took third place. For those over 30 years old, Gmarket was third and AliExpress fourth.
Industry insiders believe that AliExpress is gaining popularity due to the current prolonged economic recession and selling a lot of cost-effective products at low prices. Unlike the perception of the older generation that Chinese-made products are of low quality and prone to breakdowns, products sold at AliExpress have low prices and high quality, which makes AliExpress popular among the younger generation. In particular, AliExpress has been actively promoting itself by hiring popular Korean actor Ma Dong-seok and airing commercials featuring Ma on Korean TV.
Temu, a Chinese online shopping mall similar to AliExpress, is also growing at an alarming rate in the Korean market. In less than half a year since its launch in July, Temu has become the second-fastest-growing app of this year. In just four months, the number of new users has skyrocketed to 3.54 million.