Forced Merchants to Match Food Prices and Discounts, Threatened Membership Revocation... Baemin Fined KRW 331.1 Billion, Coupang KRW 300.8 Billion for "Most-Favored-Nation Demands"

Both Companies Drove Up Dining-Out Prices Through Most-Favored-Nation Demands
Baemin Manipulated Delivery Times to Force Merchants to Use Costlier "Self-Delivery"
Coupang Collected Unfair Fees Based on "Pre-Discount Prices"

Baedal Minjok and Coupang Eats, which dominate South Korea's food delivery app market, were sanctioned by the Fair Trade Commission after it found that they had exercised control over the prices charged by merchants and demanded most-favored-nation (MFN) treatment, including discounts no less favorable than those offered on rival platforms. Baedal Minjok manipulated estimated delivery times to force merchants to use its more expensive self-delivery service, while Coupang was caught charging fees on fictitious sales under unfair contract terms. The two companies were fined a combined KRW 631.9 billion.

Coupang Eats and Baemin CIs. Each company.

On the 9th, the Fair Trade Commission announced that it had decided to issue corrective orders and impose provisional fines of KRW 331.1 billion on Woowa Brothers, operator of Baedal Minjok, and KRW 300.8 billion on Coupang, operator of Coupang Eats, for conduct that hindered competition in the delivery market, including demands for MFN treatment that abused their market-dominant positions. The commission also ordered Baedal Minjok to reset its prices, either by introducing a separate fee plan for Store Delivery or by adjusting the brokerage commission rate under its existing Store Delivery plan. As of 2025, Baedal Minjok ranked first in the delivery app market, with a 58.45% share, while Coupang ranked second, with 34.44%. Together, the two companies held about 93% of the market.

For Coupang, the commission broadly defined the sales related to its MFN demands as the sales of all merchants in areas where Wow Store was available, calculating them at KRW 5.0149 trillion. Based on this figure, it imposed a fine of KRW 300.8 billion. Baedal Minjok likewise included all KRW 4.0065 trillion in self-delivery sales in areas where Baedal Minjok Club was available as related sales, and imposed a KRW 160.3 billion fine for its MFN demands. For its conduct in forcing merchants to switch to self-delivery, the commission calculated related sales at KRW 5.75 trillion and imposed a KRW 155.4 billion fine. For misleading advertising about estimated delivery times, it calculated related sales at KRW 3.43 trillion and imposed a KRW 15.4 billion fine.

MFN Demands Nearly as Severe as Collusion... Price Competition Crumbles, Driving Up Delivery Costs

The central issue behind the sanctions was the companies' so-called "MFN demands," which required merchants to offer terms no less favorable than those available on other delivery apps. Coupang, a late entrant to the market, maintained its commission rate of 9.8%, higher than its rivals', while using its Wow Store status to demand MFN treatment on six terms, including menu prices and minimum order amounts, from July 2023 through January 2026 in an effort to prevent consumers from switching to other platforms. Baedal Minjok responded with similar demands on three terms, using the benefits of Baedal Minjok Club as leverage from May 2024 through October 2025. Both companies also threatened to strip merchants of their Baedal Minjok Club or Wow Store status if they failed to comply with the MFN demands.

Under pressure from the two companies, the share of Coupang merchants meeting the Wow Store requirements soared from 13.49% to 93.78%, while the share of Baedal Minjok Club merchants jumped from 62.57% to 79.68%. The resulting paralysis of price competition in the market ultimately hurt consumers. Menu prices for Baedal Minjok's self-delivery service rose by KRW 350, while those for Store Delivery rose by KRW 1,650. Average minimum order amounts also increased by KRW 665 on Coupang and KRW 212 on Baedal Minjok, contributing to rising dining-out costs. Hwang Won-cheol, a standing commissioner at the Fair Trade Commission, said, "The two oligopolistic operators, whose combined market share exceeds 90%, both made MFN demands. This led to commission rates being set at a high, uniform level and merchants' trading terms moving in tandem, producing a powerful anticompetitive effect similar to that of actual collusion."

Baedal Minjok Manipulated Store Delivery Estimates to Arrive 13 Minutes Later, Forcing Merchants to Use Costlier Self-Delivery

Changes in the number of merchants using Baedal Minjok Store Delivery (MP) and Self-Delivery (OD). Korea Fair Trade Commission.

Baedal Minjok also manipulated the platform interface and delivery data to maximize profitability. To artificially increase the share of its self-delivery service, which carries a higher commission rate of 9.8%, at the expense of Store Delivery, which has a lower rate, it made the on-screen button for self-delivery more than six times larger and unilaterally discontinued Ultra Call, Store Delivery's flat-fee plan costing KRW 88,000. The commission determined that this undermined Store Delivery's price competitiveness and forced merchants to switch to self-delivery, and accordingly ordered Baedal Minjok to reset its prices.

In particular, to steer consumers toward self-delivery, Baedal Minjok overstated Store Delivery's estimated delivery time by as much as 13.1 minutes, while displaying self-delivery as arriving 1.2 minutes faster for Budget Delivery and 1.7 minutes faster for Single-Order Delivery. In reality, Store Delivery took an average of 31.5 minutes. It was slower than Single-Order Delivery, at 27.4 minutes, but 1.4 minutes faster than Budget Delivery, at 32.9 minutes. As a result of these measures promoting self-delivery, the number of merchants using Store Delivery plunged from 256,000 in June 2021 to 91,000 in July 2025, while the number using self-delivery surged over the same period from 64,000 to 271,000.

Coupang Collected KRW 32.4 Billion in Fees on Pre-Discount Prices Under Unfair Contract Terms

Coupang Eats' merchant fee policy, sanctioned for unfair contract terms. Fair Trade Commission.

Coupang was found to have operated unfair contract terms under which it charged brokerage commissions of up to 7.8% and payment processing fees of 3% based on the pre-discount selling price, rather than the discounted amount actually paid by consumers, even when merchants issued discount coupons at their own expense. In effect, Coupang charged fees on discounts that had never generated any sales. From 2023 through June 2025, it collected more than KRW 32.4 billion in brokerage commissions calculated on consumer discounts funded by merchants. Meanwhile, the allegation that Coupang bundled Wow Membership with Coupang Eats will be subject to a separate review and sanctions process. The commission ordered a renewed review, determining that a thorough examination was necessary given the significance of the case.

Commissioner Hwang said, "We expect this measure to restore competition in the delivery app and delivery agency service markets and improve competitive conditions for merchants, new and public delivery apps, and independent delivery agencies. We will continue to monitor unfair practices in the platform sector and strictly enforce the law against violations, without discriminating between domestic and foreign operators."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.