Kwak Yeon-soo is a digital editor at The Korea Times creating, editing and curating digital content for the newspaper’s website, mobile app and social media. She previously covered a diverse array of cultural, political and business topics.
Baedal Minjok, Yogiyo hit for controversial coupon marketing
Code Kunst's Instagram post featuring coupons from Baedal Minjok / Captured from Instagram
By Kwak Yeon-soo
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Korea's major food delivery mobile app services ― Baedal Minjok and Yogiyo ― are facing a backlash from consumers for their “unfair” coupon marketing, according to industry officials Tuesday.
Baedal Minjok, operated by Woowa Brothers, is being criticized for distributing coupons to the value of as much as 1 million won ($844) to celebrities and social media influencers while rarely offering discounts to ordinary consumers.
Customers have been complaining about the company's unfair practice, saying that Baedal Minjok has been playing favorites with celebrities while neglecting its main consumers.
“Baedal Minjok only saves about 0.1 percent on my purchases, whereas it gives away countless coupons to celebrities,” a Twitter user nicknamed @sinchon_baegopa posted online.
Another Twitter user nicknamed @frasierjonjam commented, “The operator didn't just provide one or two coupons, but a batch of coupons. I will delete the app immediately.”
The Baedal Minjok logo / Korea Times file
Baedal Minjok admitted that the coupon marketing was carried out in the hope that celebrity endorsement would generate publicity. However, the company stressed that the strategy was not aimed solely at celebrities or social influencers.
“It's a regular marketing activity that we've been carrying out for months,” a Woowa Brothers official said. “The problematic Instagram posts of celebrities were not sponsored, and we've offered free coupons to other app users as well.”
The official said the company chose to give coupons to those celebrities who are already avid app users or those they hope to “affiliate with in the future.”
Another delivery app Yogiyo, operated by Delivery Hero Korea, was recently hit by a number of perpetrators who tried to take advantage of its coupon codes.
The Yogiyo logo / Korea Times file
Yogiyo recently launched a promotional event, in which a consumer has to buy Kwangdong Pharmaceutical's popular Cornsilk Tea, save the cap and enter the promo code to get coupons. One could possibly get coupons worth from 1,000 won to 30,000 won.
However, this event has been abused as perpetrators found a loophole to unduly benefit from a coupon multiple times.
Perpetrators allegedly found out patterns for the coupon codes and committed coupon fraud without buying the drink, according to Delivery Hero Korea.
“We're still discussing ways to deal with the issue, both technically and policy-wise. We'll employ software programs to protect our customers,” the company official said.
Regarding the perpetrators, the official said “There is a way to track them down, but we haven't decided yet on taking legal action.”
Baedal Minjok currently accounts for 56 percent of Korea's 15 trillion won delivery app market. Delivery Hero Korea's Yogiyo has 33 percent, while Baedaltong has 11 percent.