GMarket was founded in 1999, and went public in 2006. eBay has arranged to purchase 40 percent of GMarket’s shares from founders Lee Ki Hyeong and Lee Sang Kyoo, and mall developer, Seoul-based InterPark.
The deal, if approved by the Korea Fair Trade Commission, would give eBay a leg-up in Korea’s online B2C retailing market. GMarket is a web retailer similar to Amazon and connects businesses with consumers.
The deal, if approved by the Korea Fair Trade Commission, would give eBay a leg-up in Korea’s online B2C retailing market. GMarket is a web retailer similar to Amazon and connects businesses with consumers.
eBay is already a force in Korea’s C2C online auction market. On 8 January 2001, eBay purchased a majority stake in the country’s online auction pioneer, Internet Auction. Later, in 2004, eBay upped its holdings, and is believed to now own nearly all shares.
In the first quarter of this year, South Korea’s e-commerce transactions totaled 138.39 trillion won, according to the Korea National Statistical Office.
Yet consumer purchases were a tiny fraction of this sum. B2C transactions totaled 2.8 trillion won, while C2C was 1.3 trillion won.
92 percent of e-commerce transactions were for B2B.
