Due to the Spread of Novel Coronavirus... Lotte Home Shopping Sees 30% Increase in Online Traffic

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (Wuhan pneumonia), the number of customers using internet and mobile shopping has increased.

On the 4th, Lotte Home Shopping analyzed customer purchasing trends for one week from the 27th of last month, when the novel coronavirus infectious disease crisis alert level was raised from 'caution' to 'warning,' until the 2nd of this month. The result showed that customers using internet and mobile shopping increased by more than 30% compared to usual. This is attributed to the increase in customers using online shopping amid the atmosphere of refraining from going out due to anxiety about the novel coronavirus infection.

During this period, searches for hygiene and health products such as ‘hand sanitizer,’ ‘mask,’ and ‘soap’ ranked high. In particular, ‘mask’ was the number one search keyword, with the number of orders increasing tenfold (compared to the previous week), recording explosive demand.

Demand for items such as ‘detergent,’ ‘bottled water,’ and ‘instant rice’ also more than doubled during the same period, and consumption of health foods that help improve immunity was concentrated, with the processed and health food category growing sharply by more than 74%. Additionally, the dwell time of internet and mobile users increased by more than 10% compared to usual.

‘Masks,’ which are experiencing shortages, were urgently scheduled for three days starting from the 28th of last month according to the ‘KF94’ standard recommended by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. On the 28th, ‘WeCare Yellow Dust Mask’ was urgently scheduled twice, in the morning and afternoon, each for 15 minutes, recording about 5,000 sets ordered. This is more than four times the target performance. On the following days, the 29th and 30th, ‘WeCare’ and ‘Clean Joy’ masks were urgently scheduled for 15 minutes each, and all 2,000 sets prepared were sold out within 5 minutes.

As the number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection continues to rise, sterilization appliances and health-related products are being scheduled intensively, expanding about twice as much as usual. From 2:40 PM on the 5th, clothing care appliances such as the ‘LG Tromm Styler’ and ‘dryer,’ which remove dust accumulated from outdoor activities, will be sold. At 1:40 PM on the 7th, the ‘Bauzen Electrolyzed Water Generator,’ which produces electrolyzed water with an appropriate sterilization concentration from tap water in a short time, will be sold.

In addition, overseas famous home appliances such as the German brand ‘Blomberg’ clothing dryer and ‘Dyson’ humidifying air purifier, as well as health foods like ‘Dr. Phil Film-type Propolis,’ ‘Artiki Saeng Royal Jelly Greek Honey,’ and ‘Jung Kwan Jang Hong Sam Jin Go’ will be introduced.

Kim Jong-young, Head of Marketing at Lotte Home Shopping, said, “As concerns about the novel coronavirus infection spread, the number of customers refraining from going out increased, leading to more customers using TV and mobile than usual. It was found that there is a high demand mainly for personal hygiene and health foods that help improve immunity. We will expand the scheduling of related products through big data analysis.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.