PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are calculated in-house from the last 4 quarters (2025Q3–2026Q2) · Dividend yield is based on ₩0 per share · Prices as of the 2026-10-02 close
Cafe24 continued to grow its shopping mall transaction volume (GMV) through the second quarter of 2026, but its operating margin declined as marketing and AI investment expanded, producing a mixed picture.
Second-quarter 2026 GMV reached KRW 3.75 trillion, a quarterly record, while revenue rose 5.0% year-on-year to KRW 83.4 billion.
Operating profit for the same quarter fell 26.7% year-on-year to KRW 8.2 billion, diverging from revenue growth.
Full-year 2025 revenue reached KRW 314.8 billion with operating profit of KRW 40.2 billion (operating margin 12.8%), continuing a recovery from the large 2022 loss.
Non-fashion categories such as food and beauty have emerged as new growth drivers within the D2C ecosystem, diversifying the transaction mix.
Mirae Asset Securities lowered its target price in a May 2026 report, stating that concrete disclosure of YouTube Shopping-related metrics is needed.
Cafe24 is an e-commerce platform company that generates revenue by comprehensively supporting merchants' online platform building and operation, product sourcing, logistics, marketing, and global expansion.
The business is broadly divided into payment solutions, e-commerce (EC) solutions, business solutions, supply chain services, marketing solutions, and hosting/infrastructure, with payment solutions (38.6%), supply chain services (21.7%), and marketing solutions (14.2%) historically representing the largest shares of revenue.
The company's client base numbers roughly 2 million accounts, and while it initially skewed toward small-scale startups, the share of mid-to-large enterprise clients has been increasing recently.
Cafe24 holds a 23.6% share of the domestic hosting market, ranking first, and has sustained roughly 12% average annual revenue growth over the past eight years.
Recent disclosures have also presented the business split as EC Platform and Infrastructure, with EC Platform revenue of KRW 74.9 billion and Infrastructure revenue of KRW 8.5 billion in the second quarter of 2026.
In the same period, payment solutions and EC solutions revenue grew 13.2% and 13.1% year-on-year, respectively, while the infrastructure business maintained operating revenue similar to the prior year on a stable customer base.
Because Cafe24's revenue model is tied to merchants' transaction performance rather than flat monthly fees, growth in client GMV translates directly into company revenue growth.
Domestic e-commerce enablement remains a competitive field between open-marketplace platforms and D2C-focused platforms like Cafe24, and securing a stable profit structure amid intensifying competition is a key challenge for the company.
| Quarter | Revenue | Operating profit | Op. margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025Q2 | ₩79.4B | ₩11.2B | 14.1% |
| 2025Q3 | ₩76.8B | ₩10B | 13.1% |
| 2025Q4 | ₩87.3B | ₩13B | 14.9% |
| 2026Q1 | ₩75.5B | ₩6.2B | 8.3% |
| 2026Q2 | ₩83.4B | ₩8.2B | 9.9% |
| Year | Revenue | Operating profit | Net income (parent) | Op. margin | ROE | Debt-to-equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | ₩279.3B | -₩29.7B | -₩49.9B | −10.6% | −33.6% | 101.4% |
| 2023 | ₩278.1B | -₩3.1B | ₩2B | −1.1% | 1.2% | 84.3% |
| 2024 | ₩302.5B | ₩31.9B | ₩23.5B | 10.6% | 10.9% | 58.8% |
| 2025 | ₩314.8B | ₩40.2B | ₩39.1B | 12.8% | 14.7% | 56.3% |
Consolidated basis (financial statements including subsidiaries) · Final figures from DART filings · Net income attributable to owners of the parent · Data as of 2026-08-17
Cafe24's consolidated revenue stagnated at KRW 278.1 billion in 2023 versus KRW 279.3 billion in 2022, before growing to KRW 302.5 billion in 2024 and KRW 314.8 billion in 2025, continuing a recovery trend.
Operating profit swung from losses of KRW -29.7 billion in 2022 and KRW -3.1 billion in 2023 to profits of KRW 31.9 billion in 2024 and KRW 40.2 billion in 2025, with operating margin improving from -10.6% in 2022 to 12.8% in 2025.
Net income attributable to owners followed a similar path, moving from a large KRW -49.9 billion loss in 2022 to a modest KRW 2.0 billion profit in 2023, then KRW 23.5 billion in 2024 and KRW 39.1 billion in 2025.
On a quarterly basis, second-quarter 2025 revenue was KRW 79.4 billion with operating profit of KRW 11.2 billion, third quarter revenue was KRW 76.8 billion with operating profit of KRW 10.0 billion, and fourth quarter revenue was KRW 87.3 billion with operating profit of KRW 13.0 billion, showing notable margin improvement in the second half.
However, 2026 has shown a different pattern, with first-quarter revenue of KRW 75.5 billion and operating profit of KRW 6.2 billion, and second-quarter revenue of KRW 83.4 billion and operating profit of KRW 8.2 billion — revenue kept growing while operating profit declined year-on-year.
The company attributed this to increased advertising expenses from aggressive marketing investment tied to new service launches and customer base expansion, as well as rising AI-related costs aimed at strengthening operational efficiency and service competitiveness.
Summed over the most recent four quarters (Q3 2025 through Q2 2026), revenue totaled roughly KRW 323.0 billion with owners' net income of about KRW 35.9 billion, indicating the profit base has been maintained on an annualized view.
The balance sheet also strengthened over the period, with the debt ratio falling from 101.4% in 2022 to 56.3% in 2025.
The domestic e-commerce market has continued moderate growth on the back of entrenched non-face-to-face consumption and the spread of influencer/creator commerce, which has boosted platform transaction volumes and improved related companies' revenue and operating profit.
Cafe24's second-quarter 2026 GMV reached KRW 3.75 trillion, up 11.2% year-on-year and 10.1% quarter-on-quarter, marking a quarterly record. Growth has clearly been spreading from fashion into non-fashion categories such as food and beauty.
Over the past two years, first-half transaction volume in the food and beauty categories grew 43.8% and 38.0%, respectively, ranking first and second among all categories. The combined share of these two categories reached 28.3% of total transaction volume in the first half of 2026, exceeding a quarter of the total.
Still, fashion apparel remains the largest category within the Cafe24 ecosystem, accounting for 26.3% of total transaction volume.
In terms of competitive structure, open-marketplace platforms such as Smart Store and Coupang coexist with D2C-focused platforms like Cafe24, while direct-integration channels through YouTube and Marpple Shop are emerging as new variables in the e-commerce enablement market.
As generative AI-driven shopping experiences and creator commerce establish themselves as new acquisition channels, competition among platform operators over data and marketing capabilities is intensifying.
In August 2026, Cafe24 became the first Asian company to integrate Google's YouTube Creator Partnerships API, combining official YouTube data with its creator marketing service.
Through this integration, the company plans to upgrade creator discovery, brand collaboration management, and performance analysis on a data-driven basis, and to progressively expand matchmaking, campaign automation, and advertising/external link features.
The 'Cafe24 Pro' service launched in December 2024 supports search engine optimization, data-driven marketing, and integration with various marketplaces, and has recently begun a program supporting domestic manufacturers' overseas expansion.
Mirae Asset Securities noted in a May 2026 report that disclosure of concrete YouTube Shopping-related metrics — such as GMV, seller count, and conversion rate — will be key to any change in how the market values the stock.
The company has signaled a direction of sustaining GMV growth above the domestic online shopping market's growth rate by attracting new sellers and expanding non-fashion categories such as food and beverage and home & living.
However, since cost pressure from new service launches and expanded AI investment was already reflected in first-half 2026 results, the pace of cost efficiency gains and profitability recovery in the second half remains the key point to watch.
Cafe24 turned from a large loss in 2022 to a profit in 2023 and has steadily expanded profit scale through 2024-2025, so the market has been focused on the durability of this profit recovery.
The stock has at times traded in a range comparable to the forward price-to-earnings (PER) band cited in past brokerage reports (roughly 17-20x), and it has carried a certain premium relative to net asset value.
The company maintains a no-dividend policy, so dividend appeal plays a limited role, with profit growth and potential business re-rating serving as the central considerations for investors.
Mirae Asset Securities set a target price of KRW 32,000 in a May 2026 report, down from the KRW 50,000 target it had set in November 2025. The firm cited slowing growth in the business solutions and marketing solutions segments as a factor behind the downward revision.
PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are all calculated in-house (the same method as Naver and Toss) · Dividend yield = cash dividend per share from DART filings (supplemented by KRX) ÷ current price · As of 2026-08-17
Cafe24's GMV growth has broadened beyond fashion into food, beauty, and digital appliances, reducing dependence on any single category. Food and beauty posted the highest and second-highest category growth rates over the past two years, at 43.8% and 38.0% respectively. This diversification could help cushion the overall business against a slowdown in any single category.
The debt ratio fell from 101.4% in 2022 to 56.3% in 2025, and total borrowings reportedly declined sharply over the same period. Cash and cash equivalents nearly tripled and the current ratio rose by more than 100 percentage points, strengthening short-term liquidity. The interest coverage ratio has reportedly also improved significantly amid sustained profitability.
In August 2026, Cafe24 became the first Asian company to integrate Google's YouTube Creator Partnerships API, strengthening its data-driven creator marketing capabilities. Expansion of new acquisition channels such as generative AI and creator commerce could serve as an additional long-term driver of GMV growth. However, detailed disclosure of related performance metrics remains at an early stage.
Operating profit declined year-on-year in both the first and second quarters of 2026, diverging from revenue growth. The company attributed this to marketing investment tied to new service launches and rising AI-related costs. Revenue expansion has not been directly translating into profit expansion during this period.
Mirae Asset Securities set a target price of KRW 80,000 in June 2025, then cut it to KRW 50,000 in November of that year and further to KRW 32,000 in May 2026. While the buy rating itself was maintained, the sharp downward revision over a year suggests moderating growth expectations.
The lack of sufficiently detailed disclosure on new initiatives such as YouTube Shopping was also cited as a factor behind the target price adjustments.
Some brokerages have lowered earnings estimates and target prices to reflect slowing growth in the business solutions and marketing solutions segments. While core segments such as payment solutions have maintained solid growth, weakness in non-core segments has been cited as a drag on overall earnings estimates.
As competition in the e-commerce enablement market continues, whether the company can sustain revenue growth while limiting profit declines is cited as a key variable for future performance.
Competition between open-marketplace and D2C-focused platforms, alongside the emergence of new channels, keeps the market structure fluid.
If marketing investment for new service launches and customer base expansion, along with AI-related costs aimed at improving operational efficiency and competitiveness, continue to rise, the timing of margin recovery could be delayed.
Given the business's relatively high fixed-cost structure, a slowdown in revenue growth could cause profit leverage to work in reverse.
Because the company's revenue is tied to the transaction performance of client online platforms rather than fixed monthly fees, a slowdown in consumer spending or weak performance among sellers in a particular category could directly affect company revenue.
Given the relatively high proportion of small and mid-sized sellers, sensitivity to broader economic fluctuations also exists.
Third-quarter 2026 earnings release: a key point to check whether the operating margin recovers and how marketing/AI-related costs trend.
Fourth-quarter and full-year 2026 earnings release: an opportunity to check whether annual records are set again and to review next-year business direction.
Worth monitoring the progress of the phased rollout of the YouTube Creator Partnerships API and whether related GMV/seller-count metrics are disclosed.
Release of second-half 2026 D2C category transaction data: a point to re-check whether growth in non-fashion categories like food and beauty continues.
Cafe24 has moved past its large 2022 loss and expanded profit through 2024-2025, and its top-line growth has continued, with GMV setting a new quarterly record through the second quarter of 2026.
However, in the same period, operating profit and net income declined year-on-year due to higher marketing spending tied to new services and expanded AI investment, so revenue growth and profit growth have temporarily diverged.
Growth in non-fashion categories such as food and beauty is viewed as a positive signal reducing reliance on any single category, and balance sheet health has continued to improve, including a declining debt ratio.
On the other hand, some brokerages have lowered earnings estimates and target prices to reflect slowing growth in non-core segments, and detailed performance metrics for new initiatives such as YouTube Shopping have not yet been fully disclosed.
Ultimately, the key things to watch in coming results are whether GMV growth continues to outpace the broader market and when the expanded marketing/AI investment costs translate into margin recovery.
Investors will need to track these two threads sequentially through upcoming quarterly earnings releases and the disclosure timing of new business metrics.
Report written 2026-09-05 · Data as of 2026-09-04
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