While Chinese e-commerce giant AliExpress (Ali) is accelerating its push into the Korean market with a slew of “ultra-low-priced” products in categories such as apparel, stationery, toys, cleaning tools, and household goods, South Korean e-commerce is also demonstrating price competitiveness in some daily necessities. Essential foods like instant noodles, cooking oil, sugar, milk, and hygiene products such as tissues, shampoo, and lotion are sold at lower prices by Korean domestic e-commerce.
“Although Chinese e-commerce is aggressively competing on price, domestic e-commerce may be able to sell daily necessities that are difficult to replace with Chinese goods at lower prices,” said a Korean e-commerce industry insider.
On May 6, a comparison of final prices (after discounts) of daily necessities sold by e-commerce companies showed that Korean domestic e-commerce companies like Coupang, G-market, and 11Street offered lower prices than Ali. In particular, of the seven “intensively monitored items” whose prices are closely watched by the Korea Consumer Agency, six were cheaper on local e-commerce: cooking oil, sugar, instant noodles, flour, milk, and toilet paper, with eggs being the exception.
Regarding ramen, Ali is up to 46% more expensive than Coupang. Nongshim’s Ansung Noodle Soup costs 13,010 won for 20 bags on Coupang, while it costs 19,000 won on Ali, which is 5,990 won (46%) more. Shin Ramyun, in a 20-pack, costs 14,620 won on Coupang and 19,800 won on Ali, making it 25.4% more expensive on Ali. A 40-pack of Neoguri costs 29,810 won on Coupang and 34,760 won on Ali.
The same is true for cooking oil and sugar. Three 900mL packets of Haepyo cooking oil cost 9,660 won on Coupang, 11,730 won on Ali, and over 2,000 won more expensive. Coupang sells four packets of Q1 white sugar (3kg) for 23,500 won and one packet of brown sugar (3kg) for 6,440 won, while Ali sells the same products for 1,390 won and 1,960 won more, respectively.
It was also found that ‘open markets’—online marketplaces that connect sellers and buyers—like G-market and 11Street sometimes sell products cheaper than on Ali. On G-market, a 20-pack of Bebesup Premier Wipes (70 sheets) costs 30,000 won, which is 5,040 won cheaper than on Ali (35,000 won). Downy Aroma Floral (8.5L), a fabric softener, was also 530 won cheaper at G-market than Ali. On 11Street, two bottles of Ottogi Old Sesame Oil (500mL) cost 1,720 won less, and 24 bottles of Montbest Mineral Water (1L) cost 13,260 won, which is 1,030 won and 2,740 won cheaper than on Ali, respectively.
Korean e-commerce sells products at lower prices than Ali’s, including food and hygiene products that consumers frequently buy online. Chinese e-commerce companies like Ali have a strategy of selling industrial goods produced in China at extremely low prices in Korea. Since Chinese sellers ship directly to domestic consumers, they can avoid paying tariffs and offer lower prices. However, goods like instant noodles, cooking oil, and sugar are difficult to import from China this way, focusing on Ali to compete with Korean e-commerce.
