Korea Fines Baemin and Coupang Eats 631.9 Billion Won Over Pricing

Baemin and Coupang Eats

According to the commission, Baemin demanded such terms on menu prices, minimum order amounts and discounts from restaurants using its own delivery service between May 2024 and October last year. Restaurants that complied became "Baemin Club" stores, whose subscribers got delivery fee discounts. The share of compliant stores rose from about 63% to about 80%, while excluded restaurants saw daily sales fall by roughly 70%.

The regulator also took issue with Baemin's push toward its own delivery service, including reduced exposure for store-delivery listings and the end of the Ultra Call flat-rate plan. It found that estimated delivery times shown in the app differed from actual times without sufficient explanation to consumers. Baemin was ordered to stop the conduct, reset store-delivery fees and check delivery time estimates regularly.

Coupang Eats demanded matching terms on six conditions, including delivery fees charged to customers, from July 2023 to January this year. Compliant restaurants became "Wow stores" with free delivery for Wow members. The share of compliant stores jumped from about 13% to about 94%, and excluded restaurants lost about 60% of daily sales. Coupang must also revise a fee clause within 60 days; the commission said it collected over 32.4 billion won in commissions on restaurant-funded discounts.

Companies push back

Woowa Brothers said it is disappointed that its explanation was not accepted, will review the written decision and will continue efforts toward a shared-growth delivery ecosystem. Coupang Eats said the Wow store promotion helped restaurants set reasonable prices voluntarily, argued it was a small entrant when the policy began, and called the fine unfair compared with past cases.