This blog post structurally examines how Coupang Eats’ free delivery strategy altered consumer choices and competitive dynamics, shaking up the Korean food delivery app market dominated by Baedal Minjok.
This blog post discusses the seismic shift in Korea’s food delivery app market and the decline of Baedal Minjok, once the absolute leader. This change was a foreseeable trend, given Coupang Eats’ already steep upward trajectory. However, while waiting for the situation to crystallize further, recent statistical indicators strongly suggest Baedal Minjok’s decline is likely to solidify into a structural trend, prompting this blog post.
As of August 2024, Coupang Eats recorded the highest card payment amount in the Seoul region at 211.3 billion won. During the same period, Baedal Minjok reached only 160.5 billion won. More notably, Baedal Minjok’s credit card payment amount as of February 2025 decreased by 16.8% compared to the same period last year. This represents the largest decline since tracking began in 2018. Conversely, Coupang Eats’ payment volume surged by 106.9% over the same period.
Coupang Eats isn’t the only competitor emerging against Baedal Minjok. The public delivery app ‘Ddanggyeo-yo,’ operated by Shinhan Bank, is also showing very rapid growth, despite its still relatively small absolute scale. As of June 2025, Ddanggyeo-yo’s credit card payment volume reached 15.2 billion won, a 221.8% increase year-over-year. This structure closely resembles what previously unfolded in China’s delivery app market. A monopolistic market that seemed untouchable began to shake as large corporations entered, accepting losses.
Baedal Minjok, the former market leader, now finds itself in a structurally difficult battle to win. The newly entered conglomerates’ objective isn’t necessarily to profit from the delivery app itself. Their strategy allows for zero profit as long as they avoid losses. So how did Baedal Minjok, which once virtually monopolized the market, end up in this downturn?
Baedal Minjok’s origins trace back to 2008. Founder Kim Bong-jin, then working as a web designer at Naver, had previously attempted entrepreneurship but failed, facing his life’s greatest crisis with debt and financial hardship. He returned to employment, but the rise of smartphones in the 2010s became the catalyst that transformed his life once more. Witnessing how apps were transforming daily life, Kim resolved to start a business again.
Although Baedal Tong, the pioneer of delivery apps, entered the market first, Baedal Minjok showed explosive growth immediately after its launch. Delivery apps are structurally difficult to differentiate. There were clear limits to creating technological innovation within the simple functions of ordering and delivery. Ultimately, the key factor that decided the outcome was marketing. Baedal Minjok achieved clear differentiation from competing apps through original copy like “What kind of people are we?” and “Chicken makes you fat, but I’m the one who makes it,” combined with stylish fonts and design, and aggressive branding. They succeeded in making Baedal Minjok the natural association for delivery apps.
While Baedal Minjok established itself as the frontrunner, it wasn’t an overwhelming leader initially. Capital, seeing the potential of the delivery app market, poured in. Notably, Yogiyo, operated by the German company Delivery Hero, entered the fray, accepting losses to wage a massive discount war. By the mid-2010s, the market restructured into a two-horse race between Baedal Minjok and Yogiyo. However, Baedal Minjok held the real reins of leadership.
Baedal Minjok launched Baemin Riders, directly hiring and managing riders to enhance delivery quality and control. This marked a turning point, moving beyond being a simple intermediary platform to controlling the delivery infrastructure itself. In response, Delivery Hero acquired Baedaltong and engaged in a head-on battle, but ultimately couldn’t surpass Baedal Minjok in marketing tailored to the Korean market and brand power. Ultimately, Delivery Hero chose acquisition over competition.
In December 2019, Delivery Hero announced its acquisition of Woowa Brothers, the operator of Baedal Minjok, for approximately $4 billion. This marked the largest M&A deal in the history of Korea’s IT industry. CEO Kim Bong-jin’s decision to sell the company has been interpreted in various ways. It resulted from a combination of factors: the limitations of global expansion, attractive acquisition terms, and the emergence of new competitors like Coupang Eats.
However, after the acquisition, Baedal Minjok fundamentally changed. Profitability became the top priority, and commission fees and various costs began to gradually increase. While consumers didn’t notice significant changes, the burden on self-employed individuals grew sharply. Compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, the delivery market exploded, and Baedal Minjok reaped enormous benefits. By 2022, it successfully turned an annual profit of around 400 billion won.
However, as the pandemic ended, the delivery market’s growth slowed, and criticism of Baedal Minjok’s monopoly and negative public opinion intensified. Coupang Eats seized this opportunity. Rather than engaging in simple discount wars, Coupang Eats played a decisive card: ‘unlimited free delivery’ for Wow Membership subscribers. This strategy precisely targeted consumers sensitive to delivery fees.
For the over 10 million Wow Membership users, free delivery was an extremely powerful incentive, spreading rapidly, especially among single-person households. Baedal Minjok introduced a similar paid membership, but it was no match for Coupang’s membership, which also included Rocket Delivery, returns, and Coupang Play.
Coupang Eats became a game-changer in a short time, proving its presence by recording 1.8 trillion won in sales in 2024. While its operating profit margin is low, delivery is a strategic business for Coupang to strengthen its logistics and commerce, making this a sustainable structure. This model has also been proven in China’s delivery app market.
Nationwide, Baedal Minjok still holds the lead, but Coupang Eats has already overtaken it in major cities like Seoul. Adding to the fray is the public delivery app Ddanggyeo-yo, which lowered its commission rates, intensifying the competition further.
However, it’s difficult to say Baedal Minjok has ‘fallen’ based on the current situation. It still maintains high sales and market dominance while expanding into new businesses like commerce and quick delivery. The problem is that Coupang, the largest logistics and commerce company, will never back down. With further innovation in the delivery app market becoming difficult, a head-on collision of capital and marketing has become inevitable.
Baedal Minjok, once the absolute ruler, has now returned to the position of a competitor. How this battle will be resolved in a few years remains unclear. However, one thing is certain: the landscape of Korea’s food delivery app market has already begun to shift dramatically.
