Increase in Online Shopping Transaction Volume in the First Half of the Year... Growth Slows Down

KCCI Publishes 2023 Distribution and Logistics Statistics Book
Transaction Growth Rate in First Half Over 3 Years
23.7% → 12.2% → 7.2%

Although the transaction volume of online shopping continues to increase, the growth rate appears to be gradually slowing down.

According to the "2023 Distribution and Logistics Statistical Yearbook" published by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry on the 29th, the total online shopping transaction volume in the first half of this year reached 109.2 trillion KRW, growing 7.2% compared to the same period last year. However, the growth rate over the past three years has shown a downward trend.

In particular, the transaction volume of goods (78.1 trillion KRW) increased by only 2.8%, which contrasts sharply with the online service transaction volume (31.1 trillion KRW), including travel, transportation, and leisure, that grew by 20.0% compared to the first half of the previous year due to increased demand for leisure activities after the pandemic.

The decline in the growth rate of goods transaction volume has also impacted the logistics industry. From January to November last year, parcel delivery volume increased to 3.73 billion boxes, surpassing the 3.63 billion boxes recorded in 2021, showing an upward trend. However, the growth rate has slowed due to stagnation in the goods sector of online shopping, which involves logistics. In fact, parcel delivery volume grew at an average annual rate of 11.1% over the past decade, but the year-on-year growth rate in 2021 was 7.6%.

Looking at online shopping transaction volumes by sales channel, mobile shopping accounted for 80.7 trillion KRW, while internet (PC) shopping accounted for 28.4 trillion KRW, with the scale of mobile shopping being 2.8 times that of internet shopping. The increase in single-person households, the spread of small-scale consumption, and the establishment of convenient payment systems have positioned mobile as the main purchasing channel for online shopping.

Retail Industry Grows 35.9% Over 5 Years... Double-Digit Growth in All Sectors Except Large Discount Stores (3.9%) and Duty-Free Shops (-6.0%)

Over the past five years, the domestic retail market size has grown by 35.9%, with non-store retail* represented by online shopping and home shopping rapidly expanding and driving retail market growth.

In 2022, the domestic retail sales volume reached 494 trillion KRW, a 35.9% increase compared to 2018 before the COVID-19 outbreak. By sector, non-store retail grew the most significantly at 76.6%. Despite the pandemic period, offline distribution sectors such as supermarkets, specialty stores, convenience stores, and department stores recorded double-digit sales growth, whereas large discount stores grew by only 3.9%, and duty-free shops actually shrank by 6.0%.

The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry stated, "With the endemic phase this year, gradual normalization of daily life is expected to increase consumption related to outdoor activities and economic activities, as well as overseas travel demand, leading to continued growth in offline distribution sectors such as department stores, duty-free shops, and specialty stores."

The "Distribution and Logistics Statistical Yearbook" is a comprehensive compilation of statistics on market size, trend indicators, and overseas statistics in the distribution and logistics sectors, published annually by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It is available for free on the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry website.

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