Coupang Eats testing Baedal Minjok's dominance with free delivery, quicker service

Coupang and Baedal Minjok stickers are on a restaurant in Seoul [NEWS1]

 
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Baedal Minjok, a food delivery app owned by Germany's Delivery Hero, has long dominated the Korean market, but an aggressive push by its rival Coupang Eats now threatens that supremacy. 
 
Last year was a watershed moment as Coupang Eats's market share based on credit card transactions doubled to 35.3 percent while Baedal Minjok's share fell 13.5 percent to 57.6 percent, according to market tracker Mobile Index.
 

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Driving last year's rise of New York-listed e-commerce platform Coupang's food delivery subsidiary was the parent company's strategy to bring existing Coupang users to the service.
 
Coupang Eats, in March 2024, began providing free deliveries to subscribers of Coupang's WOW membership, the e-commerce platform's paid membership service. The service entitles about 14 million Coupang subscribers to free food delivery, prompting many to switch from "Baemin," as Baedal Minjok is commonly known 
 
Sangmyung University Professor Seo Ji-yong said Coupang's move likely motivated many customers to switch from Baemin to Coupang Eats. Depending on the weather conditions and distances, delivery fees typically cost around 2,000 ($1.38) to 4,000 won. 
 

 
"Coupang offers free delivery to WOW members, and as a runner-up in the delivery industry, it seems like they also deliver food faster," Seo told the Korea JoongAng Daily, explaining that Baemin, as the No. 1 player in the industry, has suffered from delivery issues in recent years. 
 
Coupang Eats doubled its estimated total annual credit card transactions in 2024 to 4.84 trillion won, according to data released by market tracker Mobile Index on Feb. 26, up from 2.83 trillion won in 2022 and 2.32 trillion won in 2023.
 
Though Baemin enjoyed much higher credit card transactions in 2024 at 11.54 trillion won, that number has fallen 13 percent since 2022. 
 
"If Coupang Eats fails to provide a quality service, this trend may reverse itself, but if this direction persists, the gap will narrow further." Seo said. 


Coupang Eats' monthly active users in January 2025 rose 81 percent on year to 10.02 million, while Baemin's total of 22.61 million remained relatively unchanged from the previous year. 
 
Baedal Minjok told the Korea JoongAng Daily that the company is "aware of the recent market flow" and that the platform is trying to offer better services to both businesses and customers. 
 
"An AI-based recommendation service and robot delivery are a few of the technological innovations we are bringing to the industry," Baedal Minjok said.  
 
Baemin also started a 3,990-won monthly subscription service, Baemin Club, in September, after offering the membership for free during its trial phase from March to September.
 
"We believe that we can play a positive role in filling the needs of the consumers," the company said, while acknowledging that the subscription service was still in its early stage. 
 
Coupang declined to comment on the matter.  

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]