Coupang was slapped with a fine of 2.18 billion won ($1.53 million) for unfairly pressing vendors active on its platform to cut prices and shouldering additional costs to meet the e-commerce firm’s internal margin targets, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said Thursday. The company demanded vendors cut prices and bear advertising and other fees. This is a violation of the nation’s fair transaction act in large retail business, according to the latest investigation by the watchdog. Coupang was also ordered to rectify its practice. Coupang set target rates for pure product margin in consultation with vendors between January 2020 and October 2022. When vendors failed to meet the targets, the firm urged them to cut their supply prices. In some cases, the company applied pressure by threatening to suspend purchase orders from them, according to the FTC. Coupang also set gross margin targets and required vendors to cover advertising expenses unless the targets were met. In a separate investigation, the regulator also found that Coupang unfairly delayed payments to tens of thousands of vendo