It’s no lie that online shopping is huge, even before the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020. That’s why we felt it’s important to get into some of the details of food delivery in South Korea that are available to you. If you’re an expat who recently moved to Korea, we think you’ll find this blog post helpful. Below we’re discussing the various services for food delivery shopping that will make your life easier while living in Korea.
Important Note re: Food Delivery In South Korea
To participate in most of the Korean food delivery services, you’ll need a Korean bank account (or some other form of payment like KakaoPay or Samsung Pay, etc.). You’ll also need an Alien Registration Card (ARC). Another point worth mentioning, is most of these services we discuss below are in Korean. You might be thinking then they are in no way for you to use but hear us out. Once you’ve climatized yourself in Korea for a bit and spent some time and effort familiarizing yourself with the platforms and how to place an order, you’ll end up saving yourself a ton of money – you’ll see more about why below.
Coupang
The Coupang app is, essentially, the Amazon.com of Korea. It has thousands of various items for sale for delivery right to your front door. Items that are everyday necessities from skincare to children’s toys, household goods, car parts, clothes, and lots more. Pretty much anything you need, you can bet Coupang has it. The delivery time is also surprisingly quick. Our order took 2 days and is made right to the front door with no human interactions necessary.
On some of the items for sale, there is a ‘rocket button’ which you can select if you need an item delivered faster than the default delivery date. This button is akin to being an Amazon Prime member and items are delivered faster. Unfortunately, Coupang does not translate into English very well. If you have a local Korean friend to help you walk through it the first or second time you use it, that’ll be helpful. Once you get familiar with the platform, you can easily navigate it on your own.
Coupang Eats
Coupang Eats, like Uber Eats, is a popular restaurant food delivery app. Thankfully, unlike the parent company Coupang, some of Coupang Eats can be translated into English. The timing of delivery was also really quick and was considerably more so when compared to some of the other food delivery apps out there – the food order was at our front door in less than 20 minutes.
If you’re shocked, like we were, at how expensive the South Korean food delivery fees are on some of the delivery apps (*cough* Shuttle *cough*), then you’ll want to try Coupang Eats. Their delivery fee was much more comparable to what you’d expect to pay. Instead of paying $10,000 won as a delivery fee, Coupang Eats offered a reasonable $2,000 won for theirs. For example, a medium-size pizza ordered from the same restaurant on Coupang Eats was $4,000 won cheaper when compared to the same restaurant we ordered using another food delivery app. This extra $4,000 won per pizza adds up, especially if pizza is one of your favorite food groups!
Foreigner Tip: a lot of the “foreigner-friendly” places have an up-charge on their products and services for accommodating foreigners or people who don’t speak fluent Korean. This is okay perhaps in the beginning when you first move to Korea and the culture shock has you crippled, but as you get settled into your expat life in Korea, you should learn more of what Korea has to offer, particularly for the locals, so you can save yourself some money. It’s going to take effort and be a headache, but it’s worth it, especially if you plan on living in Korea for a while.
Coupang Fresh
Another subsidiary of Coupang is Coupang Fresh. This company is a grocery food delivery service, and it’s on the same platform as Coupang. Search for ‘Fresh’ on Coupang and perishable food items are presented for purchase and delivery to your door. It claims to be the only e-commerce business that can deliver fresh food within 24 hours across the country. We haven’t tested this, so let us know if it’s true!
In addition, Coupang Fresh recently launched ‘Rocket Fresh’, which depending on your location guarantees same-day delivery of groceries. They offer a wide variety of foods ranging from frozen to produce, so you can probably find pretty much anything you need in terms of ingredients for cooking. If you’re someone who considers going grocery shopping a chore, or if you sometimes find the local Korean markets overwhelming and confusing, perhaps you should try this online grocery food delivery service. It’s a nice alternative when you don’t feel up to navigating a foreign grocery store and interacting with people.
Baedal Minjok
This app is the largest food delivery service in South Korea. It does not come with the option to translate in English, so you’ll have to take some time and find some patience with figuring out how to use it. Of course, once you successfully do this once or twice, you’ll get the hang of it, as well as save yourself some money in the process. This app also doesn’t charge an exorbitant delivery fee. Yay!
There are, of course, other food delivery services in South Korea that we haven’t mentioned in this blog post. The ones listed above made our list because we found they worked best for us. Living in South Korea is heaven for foodies, so it’s super useful to know the best and least expensive services that are available to you. Then you can try all the delicious authentic Korean cuisine without the guilt of spending too much money!
Helpful Korean phrases you can use when placing online orders (10mag)
- 주소는 ___ 구 (District) ___ 동 (Neighborhood) ___ 아파트 (Apartment/ Building Name) ___층 (Floor) 입니다.
- 배달 (Delivery)
- 주문 완료 (Order Complete)
- 결제 (Payment): 카드결제 (Pay by card) / 현금 (Cash)
What Korean online shopping websites/apps and services have you used? Do you recommend any for new expats that have recently moved to South Korea? What are some tips you have that could help new Korean expats with navigating these online shopping services?
