March Online Shopping Amount Hits Record High of 12.5 Trillion Won... Agricultural Products Also Purchased with 'Click'

Agricultural and Marine Products Trade Volume Up 91.8%
Food Services Up 75.8%, Food and Beverages Up 59.4%
Meanwhile, Culture and Leisure Services Down 88.9%, Travel and Transportation Services Down 73.4%

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of delivery food services and the purchase of food and groceries online surged, leading to the highest-ever monthly domestic online shopping transaction amount recorded in March. On the other hand, purchases related to services such as culture, leisure, and travel, where demand decreased, sharply declined by 70-80% compared to last year, resulting in the lowest overall transaction growth rate in over three years.

According to the 'March Online Shopping Trends' released by Statistics Korea on the 6th, the online shopping transaction amount in March reached 12.5825 trillion KRW, an 11.8% increase compared to the same period last year. This is the largest scale ever recorded for March since the online shopping trend statistics began in January 2001.

The center of consumer activity also shifted further online. The proportion of online shopping 'product' transactions (10.5373 trillion KRW) compared to total retail sales (37.3462 trillion KRW) in March was 28.2%, also the highest ever recorded. This means that if a consumer spent 1 million KRW on product purchases in a month, 282,000 KRW of that was spent online.

The background of this change is attributed to shifts in consumption behavior due to COVID-19, with increased transactions in fresh food, ready meals, and delivery food. By product category, online purchase amounts increased significantly in agricultural, livestock, and fishery products (91.8%), food services (75.8%), food and groceries (59.4%), daily necessities including hand sanitizers and masks (46.9%), and computers and peripherals (30.1%). Statistics Korea explained that the increase in computers and peripherals was due to the impact of online school openings.

Conversely, due to the social distancing campaign and reduced outdoor activities, transaction amounts sharply declined in cultural and leisure services (-88.9%) and travel and transportation services (-73.4%). As a result, the overall transaction growth rate (11.8%) was the lowest since the statistical revision in January 2017.

Mobile shopping transaction amount reached 8.4673 trillion KRW, a 19.2% increase compared to the same month last year. The share of mobile shopping in total transactions was 67.3%, up 4.2 percentage points from the same month last year. Particularly, the shares were high in food services (94.7%), e-coupon services (86.4%), and children and infant products (79.0%).

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