A man passes by the headquarters of TMON, a cash-strapped e-commerce firm facing potential insolvency, in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap

Coupang and its logistics partners are enjoying unexpected benefits from the abrupt collapse of TMON and WeMakePrice, as the Nasdaq-listed e-commerce giant is expected to attract more customers and sellers from the two cash-strapped companies facing mounting insolvency woes, according to data and industry officials, Monday.

Since last week, the two online shopping platforms have been on a path toward sequential collapse after failing to make timely payments to their sellers and issue refunds to customers.

This situation has raised hopes that Coupang could solidify its leadership by attracting more customers away from the two firms, as evidenced by the steep stock growth of its major partners.

Shares of KCTC, a logistics firm affiliated with Coupang, surged for the past week. Its stock price hovered at around 4,000 won ($2.89) per share until Thursday, but achieved dramatic growth by closing at 5,550 won per share as of Monday. This is an increase of around 37 percent in only two trading days.

The stock surge is interpreted as reflecting increased investor confidence that customer preference for Coupang will grow even stronger in light of the recent scandal.

Coupang's stock price is also on a path to recovery, rising to over $20 as of Friday, after dipping to $19.75 the previous day.

“Sellers and customers will prioritize the reliability of retail platforms when buying or selling products, following the rapid loss of trust in TMON and WeMakePrice,” an official from a retail industry said.

“For now, Coupang and Naver are considered the two most reliable online retail business operators, so they will be able to benefit from the incident.”

Another factor that will boost the presence of Coupang is the weak performance of its other domestic e-commerce rivals.

Lotte Group's e-commerce arm, Lotte ON, has suffered an annual deficit of around 100 billion won ever since it was launched in 2020. 11Street, a struggling online shopping affiliate of SK Square, is also up for sale due to deteriorating profitability and falling market share amid the rapid rise of Coupang and Chinese e-commerce rivals, such as AliExpress and Temu.

“Few customers would have expected the abrupt collapse of the two once-popular e-commerce firms,” another official in the local retail industry said.

“This heightened a sense of fear among customers that other mid-tier e-commerce firms may also undergo a similar fate. Their reliance on only a few dominant players, such as Coupang, will solidify further until the latest scandal is settled.”