Online shopping in South Korea increased by 7.5% YoY in February, driven by the growing demand for travel services ahead of eased Covid-19 restrictions, according to data from Statistics Korea. The overall value of online shopping transactions rose to KRW16.94tn ($12.85bn) compared to KRW15.75tn
recorded a year earlier, led by online sales of travel and transportation services, which surged 137.4% on a year-on-year basis to KRW1.83tn last month. Sales of food and beverages also rose by 8.3% YoY to KRW2.13tn throughout February, and those of e-coupons rose 29.7% to KRW703.9bn. Food
delivery services, however, witnessed an 11.5% drop to KRW2.19tn, as more people opted to dine out amid eased concerns over Covid-19. Purchases made via smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices rose 4.6% on a YoY basis to KRW12.59tn, accounting for 74.3% of the overall online shopping, down
2.1 percentage points YoY.