Restaurant associations protest Coupang Eats' free delivery promotion

Restaurants selling food through mobile delivery platform Coupang Eats on Friday protested the company’s free delivery promotion for consumers, claiming the costs of the promotion would ultimately be shifted onto them. Korea's five small business associations, including the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprises, the Korea Merchant Association and the Korea Foodservice Industry Association, issued a joint statement saying the promotion will eventually make the platform’s market influence even stronger and result in higher platform usage fees for its partner restaurants. The associations said the promotion will make Coupang Eats consumers rely on the company even more. They added that such market dominance will eventually make the company feel entitled to demand that the partner restaurants make a greater sacrifice. “Small business owners are now standing on the brink of closure amid a quadruple whammy of high interest rates, high inflation, rising labor costs and shrinking consumer spending," the statement read. "The aggressive marketing offensives by major platform companies, capit