The Magic Left at Your Doorstep, and the Bill That Comes With It
Did you happen to find a delivery box quietly placed in front of your door this morning? Perhaps it has become a small daily ritual for us. The various boxes lined up along the apartment corridor stand like little monuments to the abundance of modern urban life.
Last night before falling asleep, you ordered a salad and your child’s milk with just a few taps on your phone, and overnight, like a fairy’s visit, they arrived. This magical convenience, known as ‘dawn delivery,’ has completely changed our dining tables and lifestyles over the past decade.
Stunning statistics prove this transformation. The market, which was only 10 billion KRW in 2015, is projected to grow to a massive 12 trillion KRW by 2023. This figure means more than just market growth; it signifies that the long-standing act of grocery shopping has been freed from the constraints of time and space.
But today, I want to take a closer look with you at the ‘bill’ hidden behind this friendly magic box. Beyond the product price, there are costs written in invisible ink. This bill records trillions of won invested in an entrepreneur’s dream, the sleep and health of delivery drivers racing through the city while everyone else sleeps, and the environmental debt left by countless packaging materials used to maintain freshness.
So, shall we turn the first page of this enormous bill together?
Chapter 1: The ‘Morning Star’ Launched by a Working Mom’s Dream
Every great beginning often starts not with grand slogans but with a small yet urgent inconvenience. The dawn delivery in South Korea also began with the concerns of a working mom who returned to Korea in 2014.
Kim Seul-ah, a brilliant finance professional, found preparing fresh dinners after work while caring for her child to be a battle. “Why can’t I receive good products at the morning time I want?” This small question planted the seed for ‘Market Kurly,’ which changed the distribution market.
In 2015, ‘Morning Star Delivery’ was introduced, promising delivery before 7 a.m. if ordered by 11 p.m. This was not just about fast delivery; it was a paradigm shift that turned the sleeping hours into the logistics ‘golden time.’
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But Market Kurly’s real strength was not speed but its ‘meticulous stubbornness.’ The expert ‘Product Committee’ selected products based on a single criterion: “Would I and my family use this?” This insistence led to a ‘direct purchase’ structure that eliminated complex distribution steps and sourced products directly from producers, resulting in an astonishingly low waste rate of less than 1% for fresh foods.
Of course, building a ‘cold chain’ logistics system to maintain freshness by hand was a tough path. Yet, CEO Kim boldly invested in building its own logistics centers and delivery subsidiaries, overcoming these challenges head-on. What began as a working mom’s small inconvenience became a giant lighthouse illuminating the dark corners of South Korea’s distribution market.
Chapter 2: The Giants Enter the Fray, and Diverging Fates
The peaceful era Market Kurly opened did not last long. In 2018, e-commerce giant Coupang entered the market with ‘Rocket Fresh.’
Coupang’s strategy was simple and powerful. While Market Kurly competed on ‘premium quality,’ Coupang aimed to dominate the market with overwhelming ‘capital’ and ‘scale.’ Leveraging a nationwide logistics network like a spider’s web, it stocked tens of thousands of products and offered a groundbreaking policy of free delivery even for a single bag of bean sprouts.
With Coupang’s arrival, traditional giants Shinsegae (SSG.com) and Lotte (Lotte ON) also joined the battle, turning the competition into a chicken game of ‘who can deliver cheaper, faster, and more.’ The market exploded in growth, but behind it lay horrific losses. Dawn delivery easily fell into a ‘reverse margin’ structure where the more they sold, the more they lost due to logistics and labor costs.
Eventually, Lotte ON, GS Fresh Mall, and others, overwhelmed by capital, surrendered after hundreds of billions in losses. After a long war, only three giants remained: Coupang, Market Kurly, and SSG.com.
Winners and Survivors: Mixed Fortunes
- Winner, Coupang: With massive funds secured from its 2021 U.S. stock market listing, Coupang subdued competitors and proved itself the ultimate victor by turning an annual profit in 2023.
- Survivor, Kurly: Though it opened the market, Kurly incurred huge losses while trying to grow to fight the giants. Facing the harsh question, “When will you make money?” it ultimately withdrew its IPO plans. The icon of revolution now faces the daunting challenge of ‘how to survive.’
Chapter 3: Ghosts Running at Dawn, the Price of Speed
While we sleep, there are those racing through the city’s veins: the dawn delivery drivers. Our convenience is built on their invisible labor.
Surprisingly, many drivers spend 2–3 hours before starting deliveries sorting and loading goods as ‘unpaid labor.’ This ‘shadow labor’ is not included in their wages. The brutal workload of 10 hours a day, 60 hours a week exposes them to the risks of night work, classified as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization. Studies show their rates of sleep disorders and depression are more than three times those of regular workers.
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Moreover, the ‘algorithmic pressure’ that can terminate contracts for even a 0.5% delivery time violation constantly whips them. They cannot rest when sick and face accident risks. The dawn boxes we receive may hold someone’s sleep, health, and sometimes even life as collateral.
Chapter 4: The Unpolished Survivor, the Heretic Called Profitability
While everyone said ‘dawn delivery = losses,’ there was a strange entity that posted profits for 13 consecutive years: ‘Oasis Market.’
Oasis’s success secrets were different.
- Smart Omnichannel: They process online orders overnight and sell leftover stock the next morning at about 60 offline directly operated stores. This keeps their inventory waste rate at an astonishing 0.2%.
- Software Innovation: Instead of investing billions in automation robots, they optimized worker routes with their self-developed logistics system ‘Oasis Route.’ Smart software maximized efficiency without massive investment.
Oasis’s story poses a question: Was the bloody cutthroat competition the only way? Though unpolished, this survivor’s story resonates deeply as the strongest.
Chapter 5: The Dragon at the Gate, A Completely Different Storm Approaches
In 2024, just as domestic companies were catching their breath after a long war, a giant dragon appeared at the gate: China’s C-commerce platforms ‘AliExpress’ and ‘Temu.’
Armed with ‘ultra-low prices’ and ‘free shipping,’ they are rapidly infiltrating the Korean market. Their blade now targets our ‘dining tables.’ Ali has started selling fresh Korean food and announced plans to invest 1.5 trillion KRW over three years to build massive logistics centers.
If this massive capital begins ‘ultra-low price dawn delivery,’ it could be a disaster shaking the distribution ecosystem we have built over the past decade. This goes beyond corporate competition; it threatens our producers and jobs, becoming an issue of ‘industrial sovereignty.’
The Final Signature on the Receipt Belongs to Us
Looking again at the box by the door, inside lies an entrepreneur’s dream, the giants’ war, the delivery drivers’ fatigue, a company’s insight, and the shadow of a giant dragon — all reflecting the desires and times of our society over the past decade.
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Dawn delivery has undoubtedly enriched our lives. But now we face the second chapter of this revolution. We stand on a new testing ground against massive external waves.
Signing the last page of this bill as wise consumers and responsible citizens is ultimately our shared responsibility. How about thinking once more about the stories behind each box we open? Choosing and supporting companies that use more sustainable packaging, treat workers fairly, and coexist with our producers.
A new dawn will begin with those small choices.