COVID-19 'Jipkok' Leads to 18% Increase in Online Sales Last Year... Offline Sales Down 3.6%

As Staying Home Prolongs, Sales of Home Appliances and Food Increase, While Fashion and Sports Sales Decline

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] Last year, due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), online retail sales surged by nearly 20%. While offline retail sales declined due to social distancing and reduced outings, the strong performance of online sales drove the overall expansion of retail sales. As the time spent staying at home, or 'Jipkok', lengthened, sales of home appliances and food increased, while sales of fashion, accessories, and sports items related to outdoor activities decreased.

According to the 2020 major retail sales trends announced by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 28th, online sales increased by 18.4% compared to the same period last year, while offline sales decreased by 3.6% during the same period. As a result, total sales increased by 5.5%.

Last year, offline sales continued to decline for the second consecutive year, following a 0.9% decrease in 2019. Convenience store sales increased by 2.4%, but due to social distancing, reduced outings, and avoidance of multi-use facilities, sales at large supermarkets (-3%), department stores (-9.9%), and corporate supermarkets (SSM, -4.8%) all declined, causing overall offline sales to shrink by 3.6%.

Online sales grew significantly following the consumer culture emphasizing immediacy and convenience, and the trend of expanding online and contactless consumption.

With the shift to online shopping due to COVID-19, sales of most product categories such as food (51.5%) and living/furniture (25.3%) increased sharply, resulting in a substantial 18.4% growth in total online sales. Conversely, as the atmosphere of refraining from outings and travel continued, sales of fashion/apparel (-2.2%) and services/other items (-11.9%) decreased significantly.

Looking at total sales both online and offline, sales by product category showed differences as time spent at home increased. Sales of home appliances/culture (1.5%), food (1.2%), and living/household (0.9%) increased, and sales of famous brands (0.4%) also rose. Sales shares of fashion/accessories (-2.5%), children/sports (-0.3%), and services/others (-1.3%), which are related to outdoor activities, declined.

As of December last year, offline sales decreased by 4.4%, online sales increased by 27.7%, resulting in an overall sales increase of 9%.

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