Baemin Invests KRW 30B in Pickup Service Overhaul for Growth

Seoul, South Korea—Woowa Brothers, operator of South Korea's food delivery platform Baemin and a subsidiary of Germany's Delivery Hero SE (ETR: DHER), announced plans to invest KRW 30 billion annually to revitalize its pickup order service. 

This move is part of securing new growth in the competitive food delivery market.

To stimulate service adoption, the company is rebranding its existing takeout service as "pickup" and implementing a comprehensive application redesign alongside marketing promotions.

The service allows customers to collect food directly from nearby restaurants instead of waiting for delivery riders while receiving various discount benefits. 

According to industry sources, pickup orders improve restaurant profitability by eliminating delivery fees and creating opportunities for direct customer engagement.

Since launching the service in 2020, Baemin has maintained a zero brokerage fee policy for pickup orders. 

However, growth has remained limited despite incurring operational costs similar to delivery intermediation services.

Beginning April 14, the company will charge its standard 6.8% brokerage fee to pick up orders, using this revenue to fund application enhancements and business expansion. 

The company plans to allocate approximately KRW 30 billion annually toward marketing promotions, including customer discounts and merchant support.

The application redesign places the "pickup" tab immediately adjacent to the "food delivery" tab on the main screen, increasing its visibility. 

Baemin has added pickup options to store detail pages and shopping carts, allowing customers to select this option at various points during the ordering process.

A Baemin representative noted that increased pickup orders would benefit merchants by improving their profit margins, creating more opportunities for direct customer interaction, and providing consumers with more substantial discount incentives.