Baedal Minjok (Baemin) announced that it will reorganize its packaging order service into 'Baemin Pickup' and run a marketing promotion worth 30 billion won. At the same time, it decided to charge a packaging order brokerage fee of 6.8% starting from the 14th of next month, which was previously free.
Woowa Brothers, which operates Baemin, explained, “We plan to provide various discount benefits so that customers can pick up food directly from nearby restaurants without waiting for delivery,” and “From the business owner’s perspective, profitability can improve if the number of orders increases without the burden of delivery fees.”
Baemin will change its service name and revamp its app to promote pickup orders. It will change “package order” to “pickup” and place the tab next to the “food delivery” tab to improve accessibility. It also plans to improve the user interface (UI) to make it more convenient for customers.
As Baemin is set to charge a 6.8% fee for takeout orders, the burden on merchants is expected to increase. Baemin claims that the introduction of a brokerage fee is inevitable because of the continuous costs of operating and developing the takeout order service. On the other hand, self-employed business owners are protesting that if a fee is charged for takeout orders, they will have no choice but to reduce the existing takeout discount benefits. As a result, there are concerns that the prices of delivery and takeout orders may become similar, and consumers will prefer delivery orders.
Baemin emphasized that it could increase profitability by promising 30 billion won in marketing and business owner support per year, but the response from business owners and consumers is negative. One business owner said, “Delivery fees and advertising fees are already burdensome, and now they are taking fees from takeout orders as well,” and “The best support measure is not to collect fees.” The controversy is growing among consumers as well, with some saying they will delete the Baemin app.
