Seoul, Nov 1 || Online shopping sales in South Korea grew 2 per cent on-year in September, driven by increased demand for food delivery services and mobile devices, the statistics agency said Friday.
According to data from Statistics Korea, the combined value of online shopping transactions came to 19.56 trillion won ($14.21 billion) in September, compared with 19.18 trillion won tallied a year earlier, news agency reported.
Spending on food and beverages surged 10.5 per cent on-year to reach 3.02 trillion won, and sales for food delivery services also advanced 17.3 per cent to 2.51 trillion won.
Purchases of mobile devices saw an increase of 94.9 per cent, reaching 738.5 billion won.
Everyday items' sales on online platforms rose 7.9 per cent to 1.51 trillion won.
Online shopping for e-coupon services, on the other hand, plunged 48.8 per cent on-year to 502.7 billion won, following payment delays by TMON and WeMakePrice.
The two e-commerce platforms, owned by Singapore-based company Qoo10, filed for court receivership in July after failing to make payments to vendors and issue refunds to customers due to liquidity issues stemming from aggressive merger deals by their owner.
Purchases made through smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices climbed 7.7 per cent on-year to 14.92 trillion won.