Enter 2021.01.19 06:00
Simple payment coupay goes offline beyond online
“It seems to be the purpose of enhancing investment attractiveness ahead of the NASDAQ listing”
In the second quarter of this year, Coupang applied for trademark rights for new services such as membership card, cloud service, and concert reservation, which is about to be listed on the NASDAQ. Coupang has kept management-related matters confidential to the outside world. Since it is not a company listed on the domestic stock market, there is no obligation to disclose it at any time. This is the reason why Coupang is able to gauge the new business sectors planned by the trademark application information.
Coupang announced the start of a new business by applying for trademark rights for Coupang Fastball in 2016, Rocket Fastball in 2017, Coupang (lowest price compensation system), Rocket Fresh in 2018, and Coupang Itz in 2019. Excluding trademark rights that overlap with previously launched services, new business areas that stand out are △membership cards, △cloud services, and △performance reservations.
Earlier this month, Coupang completed trademark registration for Coupang Friends, Kuchin (short for Coupang Friend), Coupang Chingu, and CouChingu. According to the registration notice, Coupang is responsible for △issuing credit cards with embedded IC chips △payment brokerage business for purchases △mobile payment brokerage services △membership credit card issuance business △payment service business using points of purchase compensation It was specified as a credit card and debit card service business.
This suggests that Coupang is considering entering the offline payment business of Coupei, a simple payment service. Coupang showed its willingness to expand its fintech business by spin-off of the Coupang division to Coupangpay in April of last year. Kakao Pay, a rival, already introduced offline simple payment in May 2018, and Naver Financial partnered with BC Card in November last year to allow Naver Pay to be used at offline affiliates.
It is a green light for Coupangen that the government has decided to allow fintech companies to provide postpaid payment services that have been only allowed for credit card companies. The Financial Services Commission announced in July last year that it would amend the Electronic Financial Transactions Act to allow small deferred payments of up to 300,000 won to Naver Pay and Kakao Pay. Even before the revision of the law, they said they would apply for a financial regulation sandbox so that related services could be released this year. In this regard, Coupang registered the trademark of’Coupang Pay Later Payment’ in November of last year.
Coupang has also applied for more than 30 trademarks in Korean and English since November of last year. The business of the trademark right includes △ physical storage of electronic data △ providing access to e-commerce platforms on the Internet △ e-commerce transactions on the Internet and other electronic media
Communication service providers for platforms stand out.
Cloud (virtual storage space) refers to a service that provides basic IT infrastructure such as storage space, server, and network to enterprises. Global retailers such as Amazon and Alibaba are supplementing the profitability that has been lowered by the separation strategy from their main business, the distribution industry, with cloud business. For Amazon, 70% of all profits come from the cloud business, Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Coupang has also been using the AWS Cloud since 2017, but the following year, a problem of unknown cause occurred in AWS services, causing damage from being unable to access websites and mobile applications.
Coupang has also registered trademark rights under the names Kurends, Coo Friends, Couriends, and Couriends this month with the advancement of the ticket reservation business in mind. The main business is △providing facilities for movies, shows, theater, music, or education and training △reserving tickets for live performances △reserving seats for shows and sports events △reserving tickets for entertainment, sports and cultural events. Coupang only sells tickets to small theaters instead of concerts and musicals that require large-scale server expansion.
Just because a company has registered a trademark right does not mean that it will enter the field right away. In some cases, for the purpose of checking competitors, trademark rights related to their own brands are applied regardless of whether they have entered the market or not, and in some cases, after reviewing it from the perspective of an idea, it was internally destroyed. However, in the case of Coupang, it is noteworthy that many of the items registered by applying for trademark rights, including Coupang Play last year, have led to new business.
In response, Coupang is in the position that “there is no specific content to talk about.” However, there is an interpretation that the industry sees Coupang’s pile of trademark applications as preliminary work ahead of the NASDAQ listing. An official in the distribution industry said, “Coupang will have the idea that it will not be able to rely on AWS services for a while.” It was a tip.