Food delivery market competition heats up as Shinhan Bank, Naver enter fray

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Sun, October 1, 2023 | 21:10

Companies

Food delivery market competition heats up as Shinhan Bank, Naver enter fray

Posted : 2022-09-26 08:54

Updated : 2022-09-27 08:22

Food delivery scooters are parked in front of the Delivery N building in Gangnam District, Seoul on June 30. Newsis

By Kim Jae-heun

Competition has been heating up in the food delivery market with Shinhan Bank's new "Ttaenggyeoyo" service rapidly attracting customers and Naver launching a new delivery platform called "N Delivery" in November, according to industry officials, Sunday.

One of the country's largest lenders, Shinhan Bank has already registered over 1 million customers for its service in the eight months since its launch in January. The company successfully increased its market share in such a short period of time by giving more benefits to both restaurant owners and customers than other players in the scene.

IT giant Naver is utilizing its map, reservation and online payment system to make the best of its food delivery service. For example, a customer can order food with restaurants searched on the Naver Map app and the portal site will place the order.

"We are a newcomer in the market so it is hard to say if our new service will be a threat to Baemin or Coupang. We will focus on providing the best quality service to both restaurant owners and customers," a Naver official said.

A promotional poster for Shinhan Bank's new food delivery service application, "Ttangyeoyo" / Courtesy of Shinhan Bank

Both Shinhan Bank and Naver pose big challenges to the top three food delivery players that have been dominating the market.

Baedal Minjok (Baemin), Yogiyo and Coupang Eats have been facing decreasing numbers of customers since the government eased the social distancing measures limiting private gathering sizes and multi-facility operating hours in April. In particular, Baemin and Coupang Eats' new price policies to increase their delivery fees has motivated their customers to find new platforms amid the soaring inflation in the country.

According a big data analytical firm Data Dragon, the number of restaurant owners who had adopted the equipment from Yogiyo and Coupang Eats to receive food delivery orders peaked in March and it has been decreasing since then. The number of restaurant owners using Yogiyo's device diminished from 12.31 million in last December to 12.28 million last month, followed by Coupang Eats with its number decreasing from 8.84 million to 8.04 million in the same period. Meanwhile, the number of restaurant owners using Baemin's terminal increased from 20.30 million to 20.67 million.

jhkim@koreatimes.co.kr