Meet Gary — Director Brand Management of the Coupang Taiwan Retail team

Hi, I’m Gary. I have been working in Coupang Taiwan for about four years. I currently lead the Retail Brand Management team and I am responsible for the categories under Hardlines, which include Sports, Stationery, Toys, and many more. 

We’re curious to hear more about your journey to Coupang. What attracted you the most?  

I joined Coupang when the company first entered Taiwan. At that time, I got contacted by a recruiter. That phone call was the first time I heard about Coupang, so I was curious to understand the culture of Coupang and why the company was coming to Taiwan. The most important reason why I want to join is that I really wanted to help build a business from scratch, and Coupang gave me a good opportunity. Prior to joining, I worked at an offline retail outlet. I was in charge of grocery and fresh products. When Coupang joined Taiwan, the company needed people with relevant backgrounds. After joining Coupang, I found that the biggest difference compared to my previous workplace is the work culture. At Coupang, we focus on identifying problems, finding out the root causes and solving them from the roots. 

Across your years at Coupang, your career has grown. Could you please talk about your growth and how Coupang in Taiwan has also changed along the years? 

The past four years at Coupang have been the fastest growing in terms of career growth. I am learning every day, whether it is in categories, brands, negotiation skills, problem identification, problem solving, team management, and more. We move quickly, but no step is wasted. And this is also in line with Taiwan’s trend over the past few years, which is continuous growth, breakthroughs, and innovation. 

When I first joined, we started with a shared office with a small team, and now we have talents from all over the world working together in our Taipei offices. Our customers have also grown with us, it has been an amazing journey for me. 

What capabilities are essential for Coupang's Retail Selection team? 

The most critical abilities are negotiation skills and the ability to think outside the box. 

Coupang is different from other retail channels in Taiwan, those companies may already have a long-term tacit understanding of cooperation, and for us we had to start from scratch with many manufacturers and suppliers to build our categories and products offerings. In addition, the retail model we want to achieve in Taiwan is very different. Our retail team needs to think outside the box and find solutions that are different from other channels. As Brand Managers, we also need to have a high level of negotiation skills to invite brands and suppliers to work with us. We have gradually established stable relationships with our suppliers, which has allowed us to add more trusted brand products for our consumers. Overall, we have to find innovative ways to help fulfill the needs of our customers. 

Coupang's categories have grown exponentially over the years. Could you share how Coupang achieves stable cooperation with suppliers? Additionally, could you talk more about the upcoming product selection direction? 

Over the past three years, Coupang has demonstrated a strong determination to deliver amazing experiences to consumers. We have in-depth and close communication and cooperation with our suppliers through our Brand Managers. Not only do we clearly convey to our suppliers that Coupang is not just a cross-border commerce company, the company does not just introduce foreign products but is also committed to cultivating local brands in Taiwan and helping them expand their market size and share. We have created many success stories, and these successes will be repeated by the suppliers we work with. One example I could share, for our baby category, in one of the sub-categories, one brand who used to be the 2nd most popular brand in the market, became number 1 by collaborating with us, supported them in reaching a goal they’ve pursued for a decade. In the future, as we expand our product selection range, I’m looking forward to expanding our categories within Hardlines to provide the newest selection possible to our customers. 

Can you share your goals for the team you are leading?        

Our goal this year is to further expand our selection, and we have set a milestone for each week, month, and quarter that we want to reach. Last season we achieved amazing growth in product selection. To achieve the goals for the subsequent quarter, we continue to recruit top talents to expand our team so that we can meet consumer needs as quickly as possible. 

Any words to applicants interested in Coupang? 

In the past few years, a lot of top talents were waiting to see if Coupang was here to stay as we have strong local competitors. I would like to tell them to stop waiting. We are here to stay and if you want to innovate and bring better selection for our customers come join us. If you also love innovation and creation, you are welcome to join us and work together to create the future of commerce for Taiwan.