Coupang Eats Recorded 6.84 Million MAU Last Month
Securing 2nd Place with 13 Consecutive Months of Growth
Baedal Minjok (Baemin), Coupang Eats, and Yogiyo, three major delivery applications (apps), saw Coupang Eats take the lead in the 'free delivery' competition held over a month. Last month, Baemin and Yogiyo experienced a slight decrease in users, while Coupang Eats alone saw an increase, solidifying its position as second place. However, variables continue to arise, such as the potential impact of Coupang's Wow Membership fee hike, which underpinned Coupang Eats' growth, and aggressive counterattacks from Baemin and Yogiyo. This indicates that the market situation remains difficult to predict.
On the 9th, data company IGAWorks reported through Mobile Index that last month, the monthly active users (MAU) of Baemin, Coupang Eats, and Yogiyo were 21.74 million, 6.84 million, and 5.5 million, respectively. Compared to the previous month, Baemin decreased by 0.5%. Yogiyo lost 200,000 users, a 3.6% drop. In contrast, Coupang Eats increased its users by 9.3%, widening the gap with Yogiyo to over 1.3 million. Since rising to second place in March, it is evaluated that Coupang Eats has been consolidating its position.
This result is the first scorecard of the 'free delivery' competition among the three major delivery apps. Last month, the three companies intensified their free delivery competition. Coupang Eats opened the front by starting unlimited free delivery service for Coupang Wow members from March 26. Baemin responded by offering free Altteul Delivery from the 1st of last month. Altteul Delivery is a service that optimally bundles deliveries based on routes. Coupang Eats' free delivery can also be bundled with nearby orders. Additionally, Yogiyo declared from the 5th of last month that it would offer free delivery even for single-house deliveries, not just bundled ones. The three companies expanded the actual free delivery benefit targets in a back-and-forth manner. Judging by the results after just one month, Coupang's strategy targeting Wow members was the most effective.
Although Coupang Eats was the first to smile in the free delivery competition, the industry commonly agrees that the future situation is uncertain. First, Coupang's significant 58% increase in the new Wow Membership monthly fee to 7,890 KRW could be a variable. Existing member fees will increase starting August, so it did not immediately affect Coupang Eats, which had increased users through Wow Membership benefits. However, the influx of new users may decline, and users who leave the Wow Membership might stop using Coupang Eats as well. Recently, Kim Beom-seok, Chairman and Founder of Coupang Inc., announced plans to invest 5.5 trillion KRW for Wow Membership benefits, which is also expected to impact the delivery market.
There is also a view that the three delivery apps might only pour funds into a 'chicken game' without achieving practical results. Delivery fees paid to riders are shared by consumers who order food and restaurants, but the delivery apps are covering the consumer's share. Although consumer delivery fees, a barrier to food delivery orders, have been eliminated, the total number of delivery app users did not increase last month. Rather than expanding the market, companies have been competing fiercely by pouring in funds to take users from each other. An industry insider said, "If platforms continue competing by covering customers' delivery fees, the financial burden on companies will inevitably increase," adding, "To sustain the delivery ecosystem, securing growth potential through new businesses alongside consumer benefits will also be important."
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