SEOUL: Online shopping sales in South Korea rose 13 per cent in November on-year, driven by major sales promotional events, Yonhap news agency quoted the data from Statistics Korea on Wednesday.
It is the largest increase since Aug 2022, when the figure climbed 15.9 per cent on-year.
The value of online shopping transactions amounted to a record high of 20.84 trillion won (US$15.89 billion) in November, up from 18.44 trillion won.
The growth came as the country held the annual Korea Sale FESTA – the Korean equivalent of Black Friday – for 20 days from Nov 10 to 30, in the largest-ever scale, where more than 2,500 companies offered big bargains, an agency official said.
Rising demand for travel and transportation services after the Covid-19 pandemic also led the overall growth, which surged 28.3 per cent on-year to 2.01 trillion won in November.
Sales of food and beverages advanced 12.9 per cent to 2.57 trillion won, and those of clothing jumped 13 percent to 2.25 trillion won, an all-time high, the data showed.
Transactions of vehicles and auto products soared 46.6 per cent to 552.1 billion won in November, and those of cell phones and other communication devices also rose 21.4 per cent.
Purchases made through smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices rose 12.1 per cent on-year to 15.25 trillion won. It was the first time that the amount surpassed the 15 trillion won level. – BERNAMA-YONHAP
