Q2 Card Approval Amount 302 Trillion Won... Online Shopping Leads Consumption

Increase in Online Transactions for Food Products and e-Coupons

Card spending in the second quarter of this year increased by more than 3% compared to last year. The growth was driven by increased online transactions and travel expenses.

According to the Credit Finance Association on the 29th, the total card approval amount in the second quarter of this year was 301.7 trillion won, up 3.3% from the same period last year. During the same period, the number of card approvals was 7.38 billion, an increase of 4.3% compared to the previous year.

The improvement in card usage performance is due to the activation of online shopping. Online shopping transaction amounts increased by 9.8%, from 37.049 trillion won in April-May last year to 40.672 trillion won in April-May this year. The amount spent on online transactions of agricultural, livestock, and fishery products increased by 25.9%, while food and beverages (16.8%) and e-coupon services (15.7%) showed double-digit growth rates. Jang Myung-hyun, a senior researcher at the Credit Finance Association, stated, "The increase in mobile vouchers and gift certificate purchases is due to the rise in vouchers that can be purchased online and used offline, such as the 'KakaoTalk Gift' service."

However, offline shopping generally showed a slowdown in growth. Department store sales decreased by 6.1%, from 7.312 trillion won in April-May last year to 6.867 trillion won in April-May this year. During the same period, large discount store sales slightly increased from 5.803 trillion won to 5.923 trillion won.

With the normalization of overseas travel, demand is also increasing in the airline and travel sectors. By industry, the approval amount for business facility management and business support services increased by 10.2% compared to the same period last year. This reflects the recovery in sales of related industries such as travel agencies. As overseas travel increased, the approval amount for transportation services rose by 4.9% compared to the previous year.

The average approval amount for personal cards in the second quarter of this year was 35,405 won, down 6.6% from the previous quarter. On the other hand, the average approval amount for corporate cards was 134,890 won, up 4.8% from the previous quarter.

Senior researcher Jang analyzed, "As it has become common to conveniently use cards even for small amounts of 1,000 to 2,000 won, the average approval amount for personal cards tends to decrease slightly. The typical use of corporate cards includes taxes and public utility payments, and since there was a tax schedule in the second quarter of this year, the average approval amount appears to be higher than the previous quarter."

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