This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz RM Report site at 11:40 a.m. on Oct. 14, 2025.
The Fair Trade Commission has sent a review report applying alleged violations of the Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising to Baemin's "One-House Delivery" service. The commission's sanctions targeting the food delivery app market have expanded to labeling and advertising issues, following "most-favored treatment" and "tying." In effect, it has launched an all-out probe.
According to the industry on the 14th, the commission the previous day separately sent a review report applying alleged violations of the labeling and advertising law to Woowa Brothers, which operates Baemin. The crux is that Baemin misled consumers by displaying shorter estimated delivery times for its own services, "One-House Delivery" and "Thrifty Delivery," than for "Store Delivery." A review report is the stage in which the commission specifies a corporations' alleged violations and forewarns sanctions, equivalent to an indictment by prosecutors.
It is known that the commission concluded Baemin used different prediction formulas by delivery type and calculated the estimated time for "Store Delivery" excessively longer than in reality. Even at the same distance, "One-House Delivery/Thrifty Delivery," which Baemin operates directly, almost matched the actual time, while Store Delivery showed a much longer time than the actual.
As a result, consumers came to perceive that "Store Delivery is slower," leading orders to be concentrated on Baemin's in-house rider service, the commission judged.
Baemin's delivery system is broadly divided into "One-House Delivery/Thrifty Delivery" (collectively called Baemin Delivery), carried out by its in-house riders, and "Store Delivery," handled by delivery agencies enlisted directly by store owners. "One-House Delivery" is a speed-focused service in which a dedicated rider contracted by Baemin delivers only one order per trip, while "Store Delivery" is a method in which the owner uses an outside agency or an individual rider.
Baemin, with a market share of about 60%, has increased the share of orders for its in-house Baemin Delivery by pushing paid subscription benefits and "free delivery" marketing. The commission believes Baemin used these structural differences to steer transactions toward its own service.
On the same day, the commission sent review reports to Baemin and Coupang Eats, respectively. For Baemin, two counts were applied: alleged violations of the labeling and advertising law regarding the "One-House Delivery" service and "most-favored treatment," which required partner merchants to offer the same prices as on its own platform. For Coupang Eats, alleged most-favored treatment and "tying," in which Coupang, Coupang Eats, and Coupang Play were bundled through the paid membership "WOW Membership," were included together.
A commission official said, "We are sending review reports in stages, starting with matters where alleged legal violations have been confirmed by the investigation," and added, "We plan to finalize whether to issue corrective orders and impose a penalty surcharge after the full commission meeting procedure."