Korea's public delivery apps struggle to turn low fees into lasting loyalty
President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday called for measures that would help public delivery apps become a meaningful counterweight to dominant private platforms whose high fees are considered a burden on small businesses. But despite initially winning users over with cheaper rates, many public apps have struggled to maintain their user base and transaction volume once state subsidies scale back,…
President Lee Jae Myung urged government action to turn public delivery apps into a strong alternative to dominant private platforms, which heavy fees have made challenging for small businesses. While public apps initially attracted users with lower prices, maintaining their user base and transaction volume has been difficult when state subsidies diminish, sparking doubts about their ability to become self-sustaining.
During a Cabinet meeting in Seoul, the president described the food delivery industry as "effectively a powerful oligopoly," after learning that Baemin and Coupang Eats together control about 93 percent of the market. Lee Byeong-gweon, the second vice minister of SMEs and startups, announced plans to use the government's next year budget to provide significant support to public delivery apps.
Their goal is to increase the combined market share of these apps to a range of 15 to 20 percent. Currently, there are 12 public delivery apps operated or backed by local governments throughout the country. Since 2020, local governments have been launching and supporting these delivery services.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
