Singapore-based Qoo10 acquires South Korean e-tailer WeMakePrice

The Singapore-based e-commerce platform Qoo10 has acquired South Korea's online shopping site WeMakePrice, making Qoo10 fourth in domestic online commerce after its acquisitions of domestic e-tailers Ticketmonster (Tmon) and Interpark.

Qoo10 on Thursday signed a deal to buy all WeMakePrice shares owned by Wonder Holdings and another contract to receive business rights and ownership of the site's mobile app. Kim Hyo-jong, head of WeMakePrice's business support division, was named the new CEO.

Founded in Singapore in 2010 by Ku Young-bae, founder of South Korea's online shopping site Gmarket, Qoo10 is an e-commerce company running in 24 countries mostly in Southeast Asia.

After the acquisition is completed, Qoo10's share of the domestic e-commerce market will jump to the 10% level, fourth after Naver Corp., Shinsegae Inc. and Coupang. Qoo10 plans to maximize synergy through organic connection among subsidiaries.

The goal is to connect overseas sellers attracted by Qoo10 to domestic platforms and offer overseas sales channels to domestic sellers active on Tmon and WeMakePrice, a strategy Qoo10 applied to Tmon after taking over it. This resulted in a 60% jump in Tmon's transaction volume in last year's fourth quarter year on year.

Write to Young Chan Song at 0full@hankyung.com