SEOUL, Jan. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Koreans likely spent more than 12 trillion won (US$10.9 billion) on the country’s top two food delivery services, Baedal Minjok and Yogiyo, last year amid the stay-at-home trend driven by the pandemic, data showed Tuesday.
Total credit card and mobile transactions on the delivery services reached an estimated 12.2 trillion won last year, up 75 percent from 6.95 trillion won in 2019, according to the data from industry tracker WiseApp.
Combined transactions on the two services last month reached a monthly record high of 1.44 trillion won, WiseApp added.
The data tracker said South Koreans’ total spending on food delivery services last year is likely much higher as its data excludes those of other major food delivery services, such as Coupang Eats.
Baedal Minjok users reached 13.73 million last month, followed by Yogiyo at 7.17 million and Coupang Eats at 2.58 million, according to WiseApp.
South Korea’s food delivery industry has experienced rapid growth in recent years, leading Germany’s Delivery Hero, which owns Yogiyo, to sign a $4 billion deal in 2019 to acquire Woowa Brothers Corp., the operator of Baedal Minjok.
Last month, South Korea’s antitrust regulator approved the sale of Woowa Brothers on the condition that Delivery Hero sells Yogiyo.
Delivery Hero has said it expects to receive final approval for the deal in the first quarter this year.
(Yonhap)