Coupang Eats launches first overseas delivery service in Tokyo
Published: 21 Jan. 2025, 13:11
Updated: 21 Jan. 2025, 14:49
![A motorcycle is parked near Coupang Eats' office in Seoul. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/01/21/b4fe61aa-3c20-4b3c-8982-99ca3c8e994d.jpg)
A motorcycle is parked near Coupang Eats' office in Seoul. [NEWS1]
Coupang Eats, a food delivery platform under Coupang, has launched a pilot food delivery service in Tokyo. It is the company's first overseas service launch.
The pilot service, called Rocket Now, began operations in Tokyo's Minato Ward on Jan. 14, according to industry sources.
The latest venture into Japan could serve as the next major breakthrough for Coupang, which is striving to extend its global footprint.
This is Coupang's second attempt to establish a presence in the Japanese market.
The e-commerce platform previously founded Coupang Japan in 2021, a quick-commerce service that delivered food and daily necessities in select Tokyo neighborhoods, but withdrew in 2023.
This time, the company is focusing on food delivery, which generally requires less initial investment than e-commerce services, which depend on large-scale logistics centers.
Industry observers are keen to see if Coupang can gain a foothold this time, especially without WOW membership, which has been a growth driver of its domestic operations.
WOW membership includes benefits including free delivery and returns, free Coupang Eats delivery and access to streaming platform Coupang Play in Korea.
Coupang Eats grew in Korea after introducing free delivery for WOW members in March 2023. According to MobileIndex data, Coupang Eats recorded 9.63 million monthly active users in December 2024, a 72.1 percent increase from the previous year.
Japan's food delivery market has grown in recent years. Grand View Research projected that the market would grow at an annual rate of 8.4 percent, reaching $35.45 billion in 2030, up from $22.62 billion in 2022.
Currently, Uber Eats holds a 70 percent share of the Japanese food delivery market.
Woowa Brothers, the operator of the online delivery platform Baedal Minjok, entered the Japanese market twice, in 2014 and 2020. Both efforts ended in withdrawal within a year.
BY KWEN YU-JIN, WOO JI-WON [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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