With over 200,000 customer reviews and a five-star average rating, gomgom rice is one of Coupang’s most popular products. As the first product to use the gomgom brand label, this rice is produced by Gwangbok Agricultural Cooperative Corp. to be sold to the millions of customers on Coupang. But how did it all begin?
In 1981, a couple in their 20s opened a small store in the Yukgeori Market of Cheongju, named the Gwangbok Rice Shop after Gwang-bok Lee, the husband. In those days, the rice processing techniques were often subpar, leading to some painful dining experiences when biting into a stray pebble or rice husk. Gwang-bok and his wife Byung-soon Jeon were determined to sell rice to which they could proudly attach his name.
“Rice farming is difficult enough, but the process of cleaning and de-husking rice for consumption is a very arduous and requires meticulous management,” said Byung-soon, who is currently the CEO of the company. “We actually screen through the rice 12 times. While there are no guidelines that suggest how many times you must screen to remove pebbles, sand, chaff, dust, dirt, and other debris, we do this for the sake of quality.”
In 2002, Gwangbok Rice Shop established a factory to specialize in this process, and it changed its name to the current Gwangbok Agricultural Cooperative Corp. in 2011. Under the motto “Even at a loss, we never compromise on quality,” it grew to become a representative local business in Cheongju, and by 2018, the company was recording annual sales of 60 billion won (around 50 million dollars). Ever the astute businesswoman, however, Byung-soon could sense the tides shifting with the Digital Age. “The world was moving toward an era of customers buying things on mobile phones in the palms of their hands,” she said. “Could it be that we were missing this trend?”
While major online companies had shown interest in rice delivery, Gwangbok Agricultural Cooperative was unwilling to gamble on quality because rice is sensitive to temperature and humidity. Without the proper delivery infrastructure, they weren’t interested.
Then, in 2018, she received a call from the Coupang Private Label Brands (CPLB) team.
“Coupang wanted to create its own brand and offer the best rice in Korea at great prices to customers,” said Byung-soon. “I concluded that if we used Rocket Delivery, we could trust this and offer our rice.” She added, “Since it was the first product to be released under the Coupang name, I suggested that we call it ‘meticulously (kkankkan) prepared rice,’ but Coupang proposed ‘gomgom.’ It means rice made with ‘careful thought.’ We liked the name too, so our rice gave birth to Coupang’s gomgom brand.”
Today, Gwangbok Agricultural Cooperative mills roughly 50,000 tons of rice each year, of which 40% is sold as gomgom rice. Since partnering with CPLB, the cooperative’s annual sales have increased from 60 billion won (around 50 million dollars) in 2018 to 100 billion won (around 80 million dollars) in 2021.
One of Byung-soon’s proudest achievements occurred in 2020, when the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases began soaring in Korea. “At the time, there were so many orders that we were selling 10,000 bags of gomgom rice a day,” said Byung-soon. “I was very proud to be able to give strength to the world in difficult times. It was possible because we were working together with Coupang.”
Byung-soon is also very proud to be helping improve the lives of local farmers through this partnership. “Gwangbok’s growth is contributing to improving the income of local farm households and revitalizing the local agricultural industry,” she said. “By sharing sales profits with farmers, we can empower them to purchase better fertilizers and farming equipment and materials, and as a result, customers can purchase better and healthier food.” She added, “We’ve been able to connect with more customers through CPLB, and this allows us to partner with more farms, and for that, I’m grateful to Coupang.”
