Seoul: Online shopping sales in South Korea grew in February, driven by increased demand for food services and mobile devices, data showed Tuesday. The total value of online shopping transactions reached 21.62 trillion won (US$14.67 billion) in February, marking a 3.5 percent increase from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.
According to Yonhap News Agency, online spending on food services surged 10.9 percent year-on-year to 3 trillion won. Purchases of mobile devices saw significant growth, soaring 53.9 percent to 2.8 trillion won. These categories were key contributors to the overall growth in the online shopping sector.
However, not all categories experienced growth. Online shopping for e-coupon services saw a significant decline, plummeting 48.5 percent to 477.2 billion won. This was a notable exception in an otherwise growing sector.
Mobile shopping transactions, a subset of online shopping, rose 3.8 percent year-on-year to 16.1 trillion won in February. This accounted for 76.6 percent of the total online shopping sales, indicating a strong preference among consumers for shopping via mobile devices.