Baemin and Coupang, with a market share of 93%, were fined KRW 631.9 billion, the largest ever... In fact, collusion (comprehensive report 2)

(Sejong = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Soo-hyun = Woowa Brothers Co., Ltd. and Coupang Co., Ltd., which run Baedal Minjok and Coupang Eats, two major delivery apps (apps), were slapped with the largest fine ever for a delivery app combined for forcing them to demand preferential treatment from stores.

However, regarding the suspicion of Coupang's tie-in sales, a re-examination is expected to take place due to differences in interpretation between the company and the Fair Trade Commission examiners.

The Fair Trade Commission reported on the 9th that Baemin and Coupang had abused their market-dominant positions to demand preferential treatment, and announced on the 9th that it had decided to impose a total of 631.9 billion won in fines, including a 331.1 billion won (provisional) fine on Baemin and 30.8 billion won (provisional) on Coupang, along with a corrective order.

Specifically, Baemin was charged ▲ 160.2 billion won (provisional) for demanding preferential treatment, ▲ 155.4 billion won (provisional) to force the company to switch to self-delivery, and ▲ 15.4 billion won (provisional) for deceptive advertising on the expected delivery time. Coupang was fined for one request for preferential treatment.

This is the first time that fines have been imposed on Baemin and Coupang delivery apps. In the case of Coupang, it has been sanctioned for other issues, but has never before received a fine for a delivery app.

In addition to these delivery apps, the Fair Trade Commission previously imposed a fine of 400 million won on Yogiyo for forcing the ‘lowest price for app orders’ in June 2020.

◇ Coupang and Baemin force transaction conditions instead of fee competition

The Fair Trade Commission determined that Baemin and Coupang, which have a combined market share of 92.89% (as of 2025), simultaneously demanded the most favorable treatment, resulting in an effect similar to collusion, such as setting the same level of fees and harmonizing transaction conditions.

Preferential treatment refers to the act of setting various benefits, such as food prices and minimum order amounts, at the same level as other delivery apps. By preventing other platforms from providing products and services at lower prices, it has a negative impact on consumers in the long run, such as causing product prices to rise similarly.

Coupang, a latecomer to the delivery app market, provides delivery app-related benefits to 'Wow members' who sign up for its shopping service membership, and has set up a system where discounts can only be received in relation to orders from 'Wow Store'.

In particular, it was found that from July 2023, stores that did not meet the conditions for preferential treatment in six major transaction conditions, including menu price and minimum order amount, were granted preferential treatment by having their WoW store status revoked.

It was found that from August 2023 to June of the following year, Coupang directly realized the most favorable treatment by operating the 'Wow Discount Management Support System', which allows the trading conditions of stores to be directly modified at any time.

As Coupang expanded its market share, Baemin also responded by demanding the most favorable treatment from stores.

From May 2024 to October 2025, Baemin selected businesses that use Baemin's own delivery service as 'Baemin Club Stores' if they meet three major transaction conditions, including the minimum order amount.

The delivery fee discount provided to consumers of the subscription product ‘Baemin Club’ has been limited to Baemin Club stores.

The majority of stores reluctantly accepted the demands of Coupang and Baemin due to concerns about decreased sales, and as a result, the proportion of WoW stores soared from about 13% in July 2023 to 94% in October 2025, and the proportion of Baemin Club stores surged from about 63% in May 2024 to 80% in January 2025.

Ultimately, this led to an increase in delivery app commission rates and menu prices. In fact, Coupang's commission rate was maintained at 9.8%, and Baemin also raised its commission rate from 6.8% to 9.8% in August 2024, the same level as Coupang.

Hwang Won-cheol, a standing member of the Fair Trade Commission, explained, “There has never been (so far) confirmed by competition authorities around the world that the first and second ranked operators were sanctioned at the same time for demanding preferential treatment.”

However, in relation to this, Coupang was imposed 308 billion won (provisional) and Baemin was imposed 160.2 billion won (provisional).

The Fair Trade Commission explained that it decided the level of fines by considering the difference in the period of violation of the law between Coupang (31 months) and Baemin (17 months).

In addition, Coupang's fine was increased by 20% due to its history of violating the law in the past, and Baemin's fine was reduced by 20% due to its cooperation with the investigation.

◇ Baemin reduces store delivery exposure to expand self-delivery

In addition, Baemin was also assessed a fine of 155.4 billion won (provisional) for forcing an artificial transition from store delivery to Baemin's own delivery.

Baemin has reduced and excluded store delivery exposure on the delivery app screen from August 2023 in order to expand Baemin's own delivery, which is advantageous in terms of profitability, and ultimately abolish store delivery.

In this process, it was confirmed that the estimated store delivery time was set and displayed to appear slower than Baemin's own delivery, and the store delivery flat rate system (Ultra Call) was abolished.

In addition, due to a different method of calculating the expected store delivery time, Baemin's own delivery was indicated as taking longer than the expected time, but it was confirmed that it advertised this without informing consumers, and a fine of 15.4 billion won (provisional) was imposed.

In fact, according to the Fair Trade Commission, from April 2023 to July of last year, the actual delivery time of store delivery was actually 1.4 minutes faster than Baemin's own delivery, but the estimated delivery time was advertised as 13.0 minutes slower.

The Fair Trade Commission also issued a price re-determination order to Baemin, a measure that effectively reduced the store delivery brokerage commission rate, which had become expensive due to the abolition of Ultracall.

In addition, the Fair Trade Commission judged that the 'brokerage fee and payment fee imposition standard clause', which is unfavorable to tenant companies in the 'Coupang Eats CEO fee plan policy' used by Coupang, was a violation of the Terms and Conditions Act and imposed a corrective order.

Coupang defined the order amount, which is the basis for calculating brokerage fees borne by stores, as the 'sale price before discount' rather than the actual amount paid by the consumer, and even charged brokerage fees for the discount amount borne by stores.

However, the Fair Trade Commission ordered a reexamination regarding Coupang's tie-in sales.

Coupang is accused of tying sales by providing Coupang Eats affordable delivery service and Coupang Play, an online video service (OTT), for free to WoW membership users.

In relation to this, the Fair Trade Commission announced that it decided to review again on the grounds that the deliberation was not carried out faithfully due to differences in interpretation between Coupang and the Fair Trade Commission examiners on the concepts of main and secondary products.