As legislative and policy discussions continue to lower the burdens on businesses listed on delivery platforms—such as brokerage fees and delivery charges—an opinion emerged that system design should consider consumer burdens, the expense structure of listed businesses, and delivery dependence together, rather than imposing uniform fee regulations. Even if fees are lowered, it can lead to other side effects such as practical delivery fee increases or fewer orders, so policies are needed that adjust cost burdens and choices by reflecting the characteristics of each market participant.
Through the "delivery platform–listed business win-win council" last year, the government had Baemin and Coupang Eats introduce a win-win pricing plan that applies differentiated brokerage fees of 2.0%–7.8% depending on the sales band of listed businesses. However, as complaints from store owners about fee and delivery charge burdens continued even after the system took effect, there is growing sentiment that the approach should move beyond simply lowering fee rates and consider the impact on the entire market together.
At the "forum on the impact of delivery platform regulation on the market and reasonable system design measures," held on the 9th at Glad Hotel Yeouido in Seoul, experts emphasized that delivery platforms are multi-sided markets in which consumers, listed businesses, delivery workers, and platform operators are intertwined at the same time. Since regulations that lower a specific expense can lead to an increase in burdens for other market participants, the point is that regulatory effects should be examined at the level of the entire market. The forum was hosted by the office of People Power Party lawmaker Kim Jae-seop and organized by the Korea Delivery Platform Listed Business Association.
Choi Hwan-hee, a professor in the Department of International Business at Fontys University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, who presented that day, said, "The domestic delivery market went through a correction after COVID-19 and is again on a growth trend," and "Following the implementation and spread of free delivery and the introduction of the win-win pricing plan in April last year, there have also been effects where the sales of listed businesses and the overall market size have grown together."
However, Professor Choi saw a need for caution with the government's uniform approach to capping fees. If overall market size, consumer delivery charge burdens, sales per store, and per-order burdens on store owners are not considered comprehensively, expenses reduced on one side can be shifted to other participants. He suggested, "Rather than direct price regulation, it is necessary to review ways to create a sustainable expense structure through voluntary consultations among market participants."
Lee Eun-hee, a professor in the Department of Consumer Studies at Inha University, also said, "A delivery platform is a multi-sided market where adjusting a single expense through regulation does not confine its impact to only that item," and "Even if the fee rate for listed businesses is lowered, if consumer delivery charges rise and orders decrease, it is hard to evaluate that as a success for the delivery market as a whole."
She added, "The standard for regulation should not be which expense was capped at how much, but whether, as a result, consumers' final burdens have decreased and whether choice, convenience, overall market welfare, and sustainability have improved."
An analysis also emerged that the management difficulties of dining businesses cannot be seen as a problem of delivery fees alone. Kim Tae-hee, a professor in the Department of Hotel and Tourism at Kyunghee University, said, "For dining businesses' operating profits, food ingredient costs, labor costs, and rent have a greater impact than delivery fees," and argued, "The policy's center of gravity needs to shift from 'how much to regulate fees' to how to improve each dining business's expense structure and support effective use of delivery channels."
There was also a claim that while delivery platforms help listed businesses improve sales, increased sales do not necessarily lead to improved profitability. Kim Cheol-min, CEO of the one-person pizza franchise "Pizza Innovation," said, "It is true that franchise owners using delivery platforms have seen sales increase, but the advertising fees taken by the platforms rise in tandem," and added, "As labor cost burdens increase to handle the higher order volume, structures can emerge in which store owners instead see deficits."
The Korea Fair Trade Commission also acknowledged the weaker bargaining power of listed businesses and saw a need to design measures centered on small businesses with high dependence on delivery, rather than applying regulations uniformly. Kim Hye-seon, head of the Digital Fair Trade Policy Division at the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC), said, "The reason listed businesses are inevitably at a disadvantage in the delivery app market is because they have no options," and added, "From the government's standpoint, we will consider what system to put in place and strive to ensure thorough improvements can be made."