Online Shopping Surpasses 16 Trillion Won... Delivery Food Increases by 62%

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] In May, online shopping transaction volume exceeded 16 trillion won for the first time.

According to the 'Online Shopping Trends' released by Statistics Korea on the 6th, online shopping transaction volume in May reached 16.0594 trillion won, an increase of 26% (3.311 trillion won) compared to a year earlier.

This marks an increase of 1 trillion won in six months since surpassing 15 trillion won for the first time in November last year.

Due to increased demand for convenience foods amid COVID-19, sales of food (delivery) services (+62.2%) and food and groceries (+38.1%) rose sharply. In May, food (delivery) service transactions amounted to 2.1417 trillion won, and food and groceries recorded 2.0425 trillion won.

The home appliances, electronics, and telecommunications equipment sector also increased by 19.7% to 1.8528 trillion won. Automobile and automobile supplies rose 178.7% from a year earlier to 401 billion won.

Lee Min-kyung, head of the Service Industry Trends Division at Statistics Korea, said, "As the economy recently shows signs of recovery, the growth rate of online shopping transaction volume has been high," adding, "Food services and food and groceries led the growth trend."

Among the online shopping transaction volume in May, mobile shopping transactions amounted to 11.4346 trillion won, up 31.6% from a year earlier. The mobile share rose by 3.1 percentage points to 71.2%.

Product categories with a high mobile share include food services (97.3%), e-coupon services (89.5%), infant and children's products (81.5%), and pet supplies (79.8%).

Meanwhile, the product transaction volume excluding service transactions from the total online shopping transaction volume was 12.381 trillion won. This accounts for 28.2% of total retail sales.

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