Coupang Eats will introduce a brokerage fee on takeout orders from April. That means South Korea's three major delivery apps, including Baedal Minjok and Yogiyo, will all apply brokerage fees to takeout orders. Delivery app operators say the move is unavoidable because takeout orders generate operating costs just like delivery orders.

Coupang Eats said on Feb. 26 it plans to introduce a 6.8 percent brokerage fee on takeout order transactions made within its app from April. The takeout service brokerage fee is a service charge imposed on stores when consumers place takeout orders through a delivery application.

Coupang Eats said it was a decision to ensure sustainable service operations. It will exclude traditional markets and small merchants in the bottom 20 percent by sales from the takeout fee.

That leaves Baedal Minjok at 6.8 percent, Coupang Eats at 6.8 percent excluding traditional merchants and small businesses, and Yogiyo at 7.7 percent, meaning the three major delivery apps have all completed the introduction of brokerage fees on takeout orders.

In the industry, Yogiyo was the first to apply a fee on takeout orders when it introduced its 'Takeout' service in September 2015. The fee at the time of introduction was 12.5 percent. Baedal Minjok introduced a takeout fee from April last year, and Coupang Eats will apply it in part from April.

As fees are charged not only for delivery but also for takeout orders where consumers pick up items themselves, opposition from self-employed merchants is also growing. They say joining delivery apps is unavoidable, but if a 6.8 percent brokerage fee is applied to all delivery and takeout orders in the future, the burden on stores will increase. A post on an online community on the day said, "If a 6.8 percent brokerage fee and a 3 percent card payment fee are applied to takeout orders after delivery, the real burden is too big."

Delivery app operators, meanwhile, say it is difficult to apply fees only to delivery because the burden of platform operating costs for brokerage services is rising. They say brokerage services incur the same costs for app development and maintenance, customer service, and server operations for delivery and takeout orders. They also say that if consumers search for a store through a delivery app and proceed to place an order, takeout orders are also subject to brokerage fees. According to the industry, takeout orders typically account for about 5 to 10 percent of delivery app transactions, including at Coupang Eats.

Delivery app operators have maintained takeout order fees in the form of a "free promotion" rather than introducing them. After Yogiyo introduced takeout fees in 2015, Baedal Minjok and Coupang Eats attempted to introduce takeout brokerage fees, but delayed the move after the Fair Trade Commission blocked it by establishing voluntary regulation for delivery platforms.

Baedal Minjok introduced a free takeout fee scheme from August 2020 and Coupang Eats from October 2021. In Coupang Eats' case, it ran a policy of reimbursing 100 percent of the takeout service brokerage fee every month.

But after Baedal Minjok decided to impose takeout fees last year, attention turned to whether Coupang Eats would end its free promotion. Coupang Eats then announced it would maintain the free support policy through March this year.

Coupang Eats decided to introduce a charging system from April, a year later. Coupang Eats decided to keep support for traditional markets and small merchants in the bottom 20 percent by sales, but end the free takeout promotion for other stores.

An industry official said, "There is an atmosphere where bleeding competition in the delivery app industry is intensifying, including exclusive condition contracts." The official added, "It seems that Coupang Eats, the industry's No. 2, also judged there are limits to continuing a free takeout fee policy to respond to a long-term competitive landscape."