TLDR: South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has conditionally approved a joint venture between Shinsegae Group’s Gmarket and Alibaba Group’s AliExpress. The approval, a landmark decision in digital market antitrust reviews, mandates strict separation of domestic consumer data between the two e-commerce giants for three years to prevent market concentration and ensure fair competition. The combined entity is projected to hold a 41% market share in the online cross-border shopping sector.
SEOUL, South Korea – The South Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC) announced on Thursday, September 18, 2025, its conditional approval for the formation of a joint venture between Shinsegae Group’s Gmarket and Alibaba Group’s AliExpress. This decision, eight months in the making, marks a significant precedent as the country’s first in-depth antitrust review specifically addressing data-related competition concerns in a digital market merger. The joint venture, named Grand Opus Holding, will oversee the operations of both Gmarket and AliExpress Korea.
The primary condition imposed by the FTC is a stringent prohibition on the sharing of domestic consumer data between Gmarket and AliExpress in the online cross-border shopping market. This measure is designed to mitigate potential antitrust issues, including accelerated market concentration, the creation of self-reinforcing loops of personalized advertisements and improved services, and the erection of high entry barriers for competitors. The regulator expressed particular concern that the integration of Gmarket’s extensive database of 50 million users, accumulated over two decades, with AliExpress’s global shopping and rating data, coupled with its ‘AI-powered pricing algorithms’ and cloud-based analytics, could lead to a ‘full-cycle consumer lock-in’ and unrivaled predictive power over Korean consumers’ preferences and price sensitivities.
According to the FTC’s findings, the combined entity is projected to command a substantial 41% market share in the online cross-border shopping sector. Individually, AliExpress currently holds a dominant position with 37.1% of cross-border online transactions, while Gmarket ranks fourth with 3.9%. The commission noted that the actual market share of the joint venture could significantly exceed this projection, especially considering the aggressive expansion of AliExpress and the growing dominance of Chinese goods in the domestic cross-border e-commerce market. In 2024, online purchases of Chinese goods in South Korea reached 2.9 trillion won ($2.1 billion), accounting for 62% of all cross-border online transactions.
To enforce the data separation, the FTC has mandated three core behavioral remedies: Gmarket, Auction (also part of Shinsegae Group), and AliExpress must continue to operate as separate entities; robust data firewalls must be established to prevent any data sharing between the platforms; and technical barriers must be implemented to block backend system integration and algorithmic overlap. This corrective order will remain in effect for three years, with the possibility of extension based on future market conditions. Furthermore, the joint venture is required to establish a compliance committee, including IT experts, and regularly report its progress to the FTC.
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Lee Byung-geon, head of the mergers and acquisitions review bureau at the FTC, highlighted the significance of this ruling, stating, ‘This marks the first in-depth review of data-related antitrust issues in a digital market merger.’ He added that the decision is expected to facilitate domestic sellers’ global expansion through the AliExpress platform and emphasized that data will remain a key factor in future merger reviews. The approval is anticipated to reorganize the domestic e-commerce market, potentially leading to a three-way competition among Coupang, Naver, and the newly strengthened Gmarket-AliExpress alliance.
