Member withdrawals are continuing after Coupang's massive customer data leak. Restaurant owners running delivery services through Coupang Eats, a Coupang subsidiary, are worried about the hit.
According to the retail industry on the 10th, Coupang lost more than 2 million users in five days. According to IGAworks Mobile Index, as of the 6th, Coupang's daily active users (DAU) stood at 15,940,746, down by about 2.04 million from the record high of 17,988,845 on the 1st. For Coupang Eats, DAU came in at 3,095,641 on Nov. 30, the day after the Coupang data leak occurred, down 0.24% from the previous week.
The personal data of Coupang Eats users was not directly leaked. However, the Wow membership, which offers free delivery on Coupang Eats, is available only to Coupang members. A significant number of Coupang Eats customers are presumed to have suffered personal data breaches as well.
A person surnamed Hong (35), who runs a sandwich shop registered on Coupang Eats, said, "When the personal information of Coupang Eats delivery workers was leaked in the past, it was driver data, so there was no major impact on business," adding, "But this time, with Wow membership cancellations and member withdrawals continuing, the impact is big." Hong added, "Delivery orders on Coupang Eats have dropped about 30% from usual." A person surnamed Kim (33), who runs a Western restaurant, said, "If you quit the Coupang Wow membership, you can't use free delivery on Coupang Eats. That's fatal for customers placing orders," adding, "The share of orders between Coupang Eats and Baemin used to be close to 5 to 5, but now Baemin's share has visibly increased."
Appeals over customer churn at Coupang Eats have also continued in online communities. In the small business community "It Hurts to Be a Boss," one post read, "Since the personal data leak, orders on Coupang Eats have fallen by nearly half. Instead, it seems orders have increased on other apps like Baemin by that much." Under a post saying, "Since the 4th, Coupang Eats orders haven't come in at all. Is this due to a boycott?" a comment read, "Zero Coupang Eats orders for three days."
Back in 2021, the personal data of about 135,000 Coupang Eats delivery workers was leaked. In 2023, after a data leak involving the personal information of more than 22,000 orderers and recipients in "Wing," Coupang's seller-only system, Coupang paid a total penalty surcharge of 1.6 billion won. Some worry that if Coupang is hit with a hefty penalty surcharge over this incident, the damage could be passed on to restaurant owners through higher fees. A person surnamed Kim, who runs a Western restaurant, said, "It looks like a sizable penalty surcharge is coming, and I'm worried fees will go up later," adding, "Even if I want to move to another platform, there isn't a good option besides Baemin, which I'm already using in parallel."
Baemin, the No. 1 platform by market share in the delivery app market, recently announced plans to strengthen its "one-bowl service" targeting demand from single-person households and to advance its partner-related services. On Jan. 8, at the "2025 Baemin Partner Festa," Woowa Brothers CEO Bum Seok Austin Kim said, "We will spare no support and technology investment so that partners—store owners using Baemin—can regain confidence that they can grow through Baemin."