Coupang Eats Doubles User Count in One Year
Growth Driven by Nationwide Free Delivery Benefits
Baemin Switches Subscription Service 'Baemin Club' to Paid Model
Coupang Eats is shaking up the delivery application (app) market by recording its highest number of users ever last month. Coupang Eats' growth, driven by nationwide free delivery, has been so steep that its user base doubled in just one year. The market leader, Baedal Minjok, has decided to switch its free delivery subscription service 'Baemin Club' to a paid model, creating a new dynamic in the competition among delivery platforms.
On the 4th, data company IGAWorks reported through Mobile Index that Coupang Eats' monthly active users (MAU) reached 7,331,248 last month. This is the highest number of users since Coupang Eats launched.
Coupang Eats received great response after launching a free delivery service in March exclusively for Coupang's paid membership, Wow members. Since May, it has rapidly increased its user base by expanding the free delivery service nationwide. Coupang Eats plans to focus on investing in services like free delivery rather than immediate profits to further increase its market share. An industry insider explained, "Many customers have been attracted as Coupang Eats expanded free delivery nationwide," adding, "Since the industry's market share is still heavily skewed to one side, they will continue aggressive investments operationally to narrow that gap."
Coupang Eats also decided to extend its policy of waiving packaging fees indefinitely. This policy was initially planned to be applied only until March next year, but Coupang Eats will continue supporting free packaging fees beyond that. This is to sustain coexistence with small business owners and secure more franchise stores. Currently, among major delivery apps, only Coupang Eats supports free packaging fees for all registered stores. However, the industry expects that when Coupang's Wow membership fee increases from 4,990 KRW to 7,890 KRW starting in August, some existing customers may leave.
Although Coupang Eats is accelerating its pursuit, Baemin still holds the number one market share in the delivery industry. Last month, Baemin recorded the highest monthly active users at 22.13 million, followed by Coupang Eats and Yogiyo (5.54 million). Baemin is confident in defending its market position despite Coupang Eats' fierce chase. The move to monetize the subscription service is evidence of this. Baemin announced on the 2nd that it will convert the 'Baemin Club,' which was operated free of charge on a trial basis, to a paid service starting from the 20th of next month. Baemin Club is a service that provides free delivery and has been available to anyone without a separate sign-up process during the trial period since its launch on May 28.
According to the announcement, the pre-registration period for Baemin Club will begin on the 9th. The regular price is 3,990 KRW, but a promotion will allow users to access it for 1,990 KRW. The end date of the promotion will be announced later. Baemin plans to add delivery fee benefits along with commerce linkages such as Baemin Store and B Mart, as well as partnerships with other companies to Baemin Club in the future. The specific methods of benefits like discounts and coupons have not yet been decided.
However, Baemin faces a burden as its CEO, Lee Guk-hwan, stepped down. In the industry, there is speculation that the timing of the former CEO's resignation coinciding with the announcement of Baemin Club's monetization might have been due to performance pressure from the parent company Delivery Hero (DH). In response, a Baemin official stated, "Baemin Club proceeded according to the planned process, and it was just a coincidence that the CEO's resignation overlapped as an unexpected variable," emphasizing, "There is absolutely no connection between the two."
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