Bom Suk Kim
Analyst · Goldman Sachs
Thanks, everyone, for joining us today. I'll start by highlighting a few things upfront and then go deeper into the quarter. First, momentum continued to build across the business in Q3. Consolidated revenue grew 11% year-over-year in constant currency, exceeding the guidance range we provided and a step-up from Q2 even with the Chuseok holiday timing working against us this year. Product Commerce grew 8% in constant currency or about 9% adjusting for the holiday shift, an acceleration from Q2. Second, our WOW membership in Korea is at the highest level in our history with strong growth both year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter. Net additions are running above historical rates, driven by both returning members and strong new sign-ups. We keep investing in expanding the value proposition for WOW members, which in turn drives higher retention and growth in membership. This quarter, we began rolling out Try Now, Pay Later, a new WOW benefit in fashion that lets members try items on for 7 days before paying, one small example of how we keep expanding the value we provide. Our goal is to make WOW the best value membership program anywhere in retail. Third, Product Commerce is tracking towards the mid-next year recovery we laid out last quarter. The underlying customer behavior remains just as strong as what we spoke to last quarter, and we expect the reported growth and margins to approximate historical levels as we lap the affected periods next year. And fourth, in Developing Offerings, growth accelerated to 27% in constant currency and the customer signals we track most closely strengthened again. Taiwan and Eats continue to lead the way. We're also excited about extending Eats into nonfood on-demand delivery in Korea, more on that in a moment. Let me take each in turn. On Product Commerce, the drivers of our momentum are the same ones that have powered our growth for more than a decade, our unwavering focus on wowing customers with the lowest prices, broadest selection and unbeatable service. We're working to widen that experience gap quarter after quarter, which is the compounding engine behind this business. The soft spot in reported growth this quarter remains a small cohort of members who left after the data incident and haven't yet returned. The members who did return, despite being away and allocating their retail wallets elsewhere for a period, have not only returned to their prior levels of spend, but they've continued to compound this quarter at normalized rates consistent with what we saw last quarter. And the members who never left are also spending at record levels and growing as fast as they were before the incident. These are among the clearest signs yet of where we stand competitively and the strength of our value proposition across service, price and selection. New members have been more than filling in the gap in member count, though they naturally begin at the early part of the spend curve. It takes time for them to climb it as each cohort before them has. As we lap the affected periods next year, the nonreturning cohort drops out of the year-over-year comp and our reported growth converges with the growth of the underlying customer base. That base continued to grow spend at normalized rates this quarter, consistent with the spend growth we spoke to last quarter. Buyable selection is the lever our teams are focused on because it's the input that we see customers responding to most directly. Our assortment on Rocket grew at strong double-digit rates this quarter. Giving customers more of what they need at low prices and with the best delivery experience is one of the clearest ways we compound growth over the long term. Fresh is a great example of the power of this cycle. Rocket Fresh volumes grew more than twice the pace of overall Product Commerce this quarter. That's the result of years of investment to offer customers the best fresh selection anywhere at low prices and delivered free with dawn or same-day delivery nationwide. Fresh is a category customers buy with high frequency and the delivery experience we provide is deeply differentiated. It engages customers with Coupang in a way few other categories can, and we see a long runway here. On Product Commerce margins, the 3 temporary items we described last quarter, supply chain headwinds, fixed cost deleverage against the pre-incident demand curve and the elevated marketing investment we're making to accelerate the return of departed customers continue to work through the P&L on the trajectory we expect. The mechanics are the same ones we laid out before. The supply chain dislocation normalizes as our volumes rebuild and the volume-based savings we're missing this year come back. Capacity utilization catches up as demand better aligns with the cost base we've built and the marketing step-up is already beginning to taper, which we expect to continue in the quarters ahead. We don't believe any of these items are structural. Some are near-term investments we've chosen to make while others are temporary headwinds. Our expectation in returning next year to Product Commerce margins approximating pre-incident levels is unchanged. Underneath these near-term items, work continues on the long-term margin drivers. Process improvements and deeper automation across our fulfillment and logistics network are producing higher customer service levels and lower cost to serve at the same time. This quarter, for example, we began deploying AI cameras in our packing stations to remove the need for manual scanning paired with auto baggers that automatically size and customize packaging for each order, cutting both time and packaging waste. Each is small on its own, but they compound with a constant innovation, technology and process excellence across our operations. Turning to Developing Offerings, where in Taiwan, the response from customers is accelerating. Our owned last mile network now delivers the vast majority of orders next day, 7 days a week. Dawn Delivery, which we began rolling out last quarter, is already accessible to over 50% of the population. Our WOW membership program in Taiwan has grown more than 100% year-over-year and 14% quarter-over-quarter, an acceleration over the growth we saw in Q2. Our differentiated Rocket Delivery experience, combined with the value of our WOW membership program are helping drive strong adoption and retention in customers. This is remarkably similar behavior to what we saw in Korea at the same stage. Beyond our fulfillment and logistics network, we're building what will ultimately enable the highest levels of value for our consumers through direct sourcing relationships with brands. The combination of deep selection, operational excellence and a supply chain that enables everyday low prices and an owned delivery experience no one else matches is what has driven compounded growth for us in Korea for more than a decade. That same combination is now taking shape in Taiwan. We're encouraged to see the trajectory in Taiwan accelerating and closely following the same path in Korea. The signals we track most closely, customer adoption, cohort retention, service differentiation, are each tracking well. Our teams are focused on scaling the offering by building the foundation for the highest levels of customer experience while simultaneously progressing towards profitability, not one at the expense of the other. As we continue to execute with discipline, we expect Taiwan to be a meaningful contributor to consolidated cash flow in the years to come. Eats and Rocket Now, our on-demand food delivery offerings in Korea and Japan, continue to delight customers. Our focus is the same as it's been from the start, providing the best combination of service, price and selection, and customers continue to embrace them at increasing levels. We're also rolling out nonfood on-demand delivery in Korea, extending our Eats offering into product categories where customers can now get free delivery across a wide assortment in just minutes. It's still very early, but we'll continue to iterate on how to expand the value proposition for customers. As always, we continue to take the long view on value for our customers and returns for our shareholders, and Q3 reinforces it. The long-term opportunity in Korea, in Taiwan and across our Developing Offerings is as compelling to us today as it has ever been. Now I'll turn the call over to Gaurav to walk through the financials in more detail.