Is 11st profitable in 2025?

11st's open-market segment posted operating profit for 7 consecutive months through September 2024, but the company has accumulated roughly 440 billion won in losses since its 2018 spin-off, per SK Planet's own December 29, 2025 disclosure, so it remains unprofitable company-wide.

SK Planet owns 100% of 11st after SK Square sold its controlling stake (valued at 660.7 billion won) to SK Planet on October 29, 2025, paying 467.3 billion won to financial investors including the National Pension Service.

Could AI replace 11st's shopping discovery role?

Yes, product discovery and recommendation are exposed workflows; 11st launched its own generative-AI 'Ai Feed' curator in October 2024, but as of June 2026 it has no ChatGPT or Gemini integration while regional peer Shopee shipped a live ChatGPT shopping app on June 22, 2026.

Is Coupang 11st's biggest competitor?

Yes. Coupang dominates with 24.6 million active Product Commerce customers in Q4 2025 versus 11st's 13.24 million mobile MAU in April 2024, though Coupang was fined 624.9 billion won on June 11, 2026 over a data breach, creating a temporary opening SK Planet is funding 11st to exploit.

No confirmed IPO timeline exists as of December 2025. 11st missed its original September 30, 2023 IPO deadline under the 2018 shareholder agreement, and that dispute was resolved via SK Planet's full-stake buyout on October 29, 2025 instead of a public listing.

How does 11st compare to Chinese platforms AliExpress and Temu in Korea?

As of April 2024, 11st led both with 13.24 million mobile MAU versus AliExpress's 10.58 million and Temu's 9.74 million, per Nielsen Korean Click data, holding the #2 spot in Korea behind Coupang.

E-commerce and marketplaces · subsidiary of SK Planet · South Korea

11st

11st.co.kr ↗

11st is Korea's #2 online marketplace, chasing Coupang on a Coupang-shaped crisis.

Losing its protection

Assessed 22 July 2026 · Evidence as of 22 July 2026

The structural protection is eroding.

On the recordSince 22 July 2026 · Checkable from Q4 2026 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: Coupang's post-breach MAU and brand recovery trend check

The call

11st's revival depends on Coupang staying wounded, not on anything 11st has built that Coupang cannot copy.

11st runs an online marketplace where people buy and sell products, similar to Amazon or eBay. Coupang, the market leader, can copy everything 11st does and already has most of the customers, making it extremely hard for 11st to catch up or stand out. The company has lost money for seven years and is banking on Coupang's recent data breach to win back shoppers, but if Coupang fixes that problem and customers return by the end of 2026, 11st will be stuck as the permanent second choice with no clear way to grow or sell itself.

Why

AI pressure: ChatGPT and Gemini shopping agents (Shopee already integrated with ChatGPT). If shopping moves inside chat agents, sellers may skip 11st's app entirely, and Coupang or Naver could win the integration race first. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.

Bigger players: Coupang. Coupang holds roughly 2.3x 11st's user base and can copy any loyalty or pricing move 11st makes within a quarter. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.

What protects it. SK Planet's fresh 60 billion won injection and Coupang's temporary breach fallout buy 11st a narrow window to gain users.

What would change this call

Coupang's MAU and brand metrics return to pre-breach trend by Q4 2026. Would show 11st's 2025 revival window closes and it reverts to permanent #2.
11st reports company-wide (not just open-market segment) quarterly net profit. Would show the turnaround extends beyond one profitable segment to the whole business.
11st announces a ChatGPT Korea or Naver HyperCLOVA shopping-agent integration. Would show 11st gained an AI-shopping channel Coupang doesn't yet have.

Key numbers

440 billion won accumulated losses since 2018 (2025-12-29)
13.24M MAU vs Coupang's 24.6M active customers (2025-Q4)
60 billion won fresh injection from SK Planet (2025-12-29)

Named risks

Coupang recovery post-breach could erase 11st's temporary competitive window by late 2026. Severity: high
No structural moat; Coupang can replicate any 11st feature or promotion with far greater capital. Severity: high
440 billion won accumulated losses since 2018 with no confirmed path to sustained company-wide profit. Severity: medium
Chinese C-commerce platforms AliExpress and Temu continue pressuring from below on price. Severity: medium
No frontier-model shopping integration while regional peers like Shopee move ahead on agentic AI. Severity: medium

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
Coupang	losing to	Coupang had 24.6M active customers (2025-Q4) vs 11st's 13.24M MAU (2024-04); still far larger
Coupang	contesting	SK Planet injected 60B won Dec 2025 explicitly to challenge Coupang after its 2025-2026 breach fine
AliExpress	contesting	11st held #2 in Korea MAU (13.24M) ahead of AliExpress's 10.58M as of 2024-04
Temu	contesting	11st outranked Temu 13.24M to 9.74M MAU as of 2024-04
Shopee	losing to	Shopee shipped live ChatGPT shopping integration 2026-06-22; 11st has no frontier-AI partnership

Questions people ask

Is 11st profitable in 2025?: 11st's open-market segment posted operating profit for 7 consecutive months through September 2024, but the company has accumulated roughly 440 billion won in losses since its 2018 spin-off, per SK Planet's own December 29, 2025 disclosure, so it remains unprofitable company-wide.
Who owns 11st now?: SK Planet owns 100% of 11st after SK Square sold its controlling stake (valued at 660.7 billion won) to SK Planet on October 29, 2025, paying 467.3 billion won to financial investors including the National Pension Service.
Could AI replace 11st's shopping discovery role?: Yes, product discovery and recommendation are exposed workflows; 11st launched its own generative-AI 'Ai Feed' curator in October 2024, but as of June 2026 it has no ChatGPT or Gemini integration while regional peer Shopee shipped a live ChatGPT shopping app on June 22, 2026.
Is Coupang 11st's biggest competitor?: Yes. Coupang dominates with 24.6 million active Product Commerce customers in Q4 2025 versus 11st's 13.24 million mobile MAU in April 2024, though Coupang was fined 624.9 billion won on June 11, 2026 over a data breach, creating a temporary opening SK Planet is funding 11st to exploit.
Will 11st IPO?: No confirmed IPO timeline exists as of December 2025. 11st missed its original September 30, 2023 IPO deadline under the 2018 shareholder agreement, and that dispute was resolved via SK Planet's full-stake buyout on October 29, 2025 instead of a public listing.
How does 11st compare to Chinese platforms AliExpress and Temu in Korea?: As of April 2024, 11st led both with 13.24 million mobile MAU versus AliExpress's 10.58 million and Temu's 9.74 million, per Nielsen Korean Click data, holding the #2 spot in Korea behind Coupang.

Timeline

2026-06-22Rival Shopee integrates directly into ChatGPT for in-chat shopping; 11st has no equivalent
2026-06-11Coupang fined 624.9 billion won ($408-409M) over 2025 data breach exposing 33.7M accounts
2025-12-29SK Planet injects 60 billion won into 11st, total contribution 534.6 billion won, to challenge Coupang
2025-11-1011st's '2025 Grand 11th Day' promotional event involves about 7,000 sellers
2025-10-29SK Square sells 100% stake in 11st to SK Planet for 467.3 billion won
2024-10-2311st launches generative-AI 'Ai Feed' virtual product curator
2024-10-2211st reports 7 consecutive months of open-market operating profit
2024-09-2411st reports 6 consecutive months of open-market operating profit
2024-05-2311st ranked #2 in Korea by mobile MAU at 13.24 million, ahead of AliExpress and Temu
2023-09-3011st misses contractual IPO deadline from 2018 investor agreement

Revision history

22 July 2026

First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

In the same band

Wayfair Meituan Shein Group