'Queenit' Rapportlabs Exceeds KRW 85.5 Billion in Sales and Reduces Deficit... Aims for Quantum Jump with Acquisition of 'SK Stoa'

Operating the lifestyle platform 'Queenit' targeting women in their 40s and 50s, Rapportlabs received a meaningful report card in 2025, showing significant sales growth along with a reduction in operating deficit. While a structural improvement centered on high margins is taking place, surging advertising costs are pointed out as a challenge for profitability improvement. In the future, the key issue for Rapportlabs is expected to be the creation of synergy following the acquisition of SK Stoa, the top player in the T-commerce business.

Steep External Growth and Profitability Improvement Trend

Looking at the income statement, Rapportlabs' sales in 2025 were KRW 85.4 billion, growing by about 50% compared to 2024 (KRW 57.0 billion). The operating loss decreased from KRW 7.4 billion in 2024 to KRW 5.6 billion in 2025, showing a continuous improvement in profitability.

Looking at the profit and loss trend, Rapportlabs' growth is even more distinct. Sales, which were around KRW 247 million in 2020, recorded KRW 10.6 billion in 2021, KRW 18.4 billion in 2022, KRW 41.2 billion in 2023, and KRW 57.0 billion in 2024, followed by KRW 85.5 billion in 2025, continuing explosive external growth. On the other hand, the operating profit margin (OP Margin) bottomed out from -102.45% in 2020 to -89.19% in 2022, and as economies of scale were realized, it steeply improved to -35.18% in 2023, -13.03% in 2024, and -6.55% in 2025.

Qualitative Growth Driven by 'High-Margin' Commission and Advertising Sales

Rapportlabs' standout strength is its high gross profit margin, which reaches approximately 87%. The reason such a high profit margin is possible is that the proportion of 'commission and advertising sales' through platform entry is overwhelmingly larger than 'product/commodity sales,' where the company takes on inventory risks and sells items directly.

In fact, breaking down the 2025 performance, the proportion of 'product/commodity sales,' which involves selling items directly, was KRW 19.1 billion, remaining stagnant similarly to the previous year (KRW 19.0 billion), while what drove growth was commission sales (KRW 32.3 billion → KRW 53.3 billion) and advertising sales (KRW 5.6 billion → KRW 12.9 billion). This suggests that Rapportlabs is undergoing structural improvement into a high-margin platform structure where it can generate profit as long as the platform ecosystem operates without inventory burden.

'Excessive Advertising and Promotional Expenses' Holding Them Back... Evidence of Intensified Competition

However, excessive advertising and promotional expenditure is the core obstacle holding back a turnaround to surplus. Rapportlabs' advertising and promotional expenses in 2025 were KRW 29.6 billion, a staggering 73% surge compared to the previous year's KRW 17.1 billion.

The ratio of advertising expenses to sales is very high, reaching about 34.7%. In particular, it is noteworthy that the growth rate of advertising expenses (73%) is much higher compared to the fact that sales grew by about 50% year-on-year. This means that as the competitive intensity in the 4050 commerce market becomes very fierce, customer acquisition cost (CAC) is continuously rising, or the company is enduring bleeding and making aggressive investments to firmly consolidate its No. 1 market share.

Acquisition of SK Stoa, the Key to 'Surplus Turnaround' and 'Quantum Jump'

Ultimately, the biggest key that will determine Rapportlabs' explosive growth and turnaround to surplus in the future is the successful settlement of the ongoing acquisition of 'SK Stoa'. Rapportlabs is investing about KRW 110 billion in funds to proceed with the acquisition of 100% stakes in SK Stoa and Media S.

SK Stoa, the No. 1 in the T-commerce market, has the 4050 generation as its main consumer base, the same as Queenit. Rapportlabs plans to combine the existing 'Queenit's' powerful mobile commerce capabilities with SK Stoa's TV home shopping and media content capabilities, leaping into 'multi-channel commerce' that encompasses overall lifestyles such as men's, beauty, health, and leisure beyond simple fashion. Currently, challenges such as the SK Stoa labor union's strike against the acquisition and the regulatory authority's review for approval of major shareholder change remain, but as the customer bases of both companies coincide, a powerful synergy that lowers customer acquisition costs and maximizes the sales pie is expected if the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is successfully completed.