South Korea’s online shopping sales surged 22.7 percent on-year in April, fueled by brisk demand for communication devices and cosmetics, a government report showed Monday.
Total transactions reached 4.33 trillion won ($3.89 billion) in April, compared with 3.53 trillion won a year earlier, the report by Statistics Korea said.
Sales edged up about 0.6 percent from March’s 4.3 trillion won.
April marks the second consecutive month of on-month gains.
Purchases made through smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices soared 81.6 percent on-year to 1.86 trillion won to account for 43 percent of online sales in April. This marks a 4.6 percent increase from March.
“Sales of communication devices, electronics and computers rose 14.4 percent with the 11.7 percent spike in demand for makeup fueling growth,” the office said. “In contrast, sales for books and stationary declined 4.7 percent on-year.”
The report also showed the country’s total retail sales gaining 2.8 percent on-year to more than 29.88 trillion won in April but decreasing from 30.3 trillion won tallied for March.
Sales at convenience stores and large discount chains spiked 30.8 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively, with department stores and supermarkets edging up 0.1 percent and 0.4 percent from a year earlier.
Sales of online shops that do not maintain a separate store and small, specialized retailers which sell clothes, electronics and medicine all rose in April compared to a year earlier, according to the report. (Yonhap)
