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| A model promotes Coupang's Rocket Fresh Same-Day Delivery service in this undated file photo. Courtesy of Coupang |
By Nam Hyun-woo
Coupang has launched a same-day delivery service for fresh food, allowing customers to order in the morning and receive their products in the evening, according to the e-commerce firm, Friday.
The service, named "Rocket Fresh Same-Day Delivery," ensures vegetables, fruit, meat, dairy products and other fresh goods ordered before 10 a.m. are delivered at around 6 p.m. that day. Coupang said this allows customers to save time on grocery shopping and follow social distancing practices to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Coupang is the only e-commerce firm able to deliver fresh food within 24 hours across the country. The company launched its Rocket Fresh delivery service in 2018, delivering fresh food before 7 a.m. to customers who placed their orders before 10:30 p.m. the night before.
The service is available for subscribers to the Coupang membership program, Rocket Wow Club, and covers more than 8,500 kinds of fresh food. The minimum order is 15,000 won, the lowest among its rivals.
Coupang said it was able to launch the service because of its logistics infrastructure and AI-based product management system. As of last year, Coupang has 168 delivery bases across the country, and the number of people living within a 10-minute range stands at 34 million, the company said.
Along with the dense delivery network, its AI-based management system analyzes customers' ordering patterns to accelerate the logistics process, Coupang said.
"A growing number of people are discovering the importance of family time these days, and we believe our service can contribute to that," a Coupang official said. "We will continue upgrade our service so customers can shop more conveniently across the country."
With Coupang making strides in its delivery services, experts said customers' transition to online shopping will be faster, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The same-day delivery service is an innovation which can change the whole paradigm of shopping," said Lee Hee-seok, a professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. "Korea is not seeing panic buying during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this is largely attributable to the country's advanced e-commerce industry."
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