SEOUL (XINHUA) – South Korea’s online shopping grew in single digit in September due to strong demand for food delivery, mobile devices and cultural service, statistical office data showed on Friday.
Shopping in cyberspace gained 2.0 per cent over the year to KRW19.56 trillion (USD14.2 billion) in September, after rising 1.9 per cent in the previous month, according to Statistics Korea.
Online shopping kept an upward trend, but the September figure posted the second-lowest increase since data began to be compiled in 2017.
The low growth was attributed to overdue payments by two e-commerce platforms that filed for court receivership in July after failing to make payments to vendors and to offer refunds to customers.
Online purchases of mobile devices spiked 94.9 per cent, while demand for food delivery and cultural service expanded 17.3 per cent and 48.2 per cent each.
Transaction of food and beverages in cyberspace advanced 10.5 per cent, while demand for agricultural, livestock and fishery products gained 3.4 per cent in September from a year earlier.
Online transactions of e-coupon services tumbled 48.8 per cent amid the weaker trend to provide gifts such as coffee and cake through e-coupons, while those for car accessories, computers and backpacks declined in double digits. Shopping through smartphones, tablets and other mobile gadgets climbed 7.7 per cent over the year to KRW14.92 trillion (USD10.8 billion) in September, accounting for 76.3 per cent of the combined online shopping.
