SEOUL: Online shopping sales in South Korea experienced a modest increase of 0.6 percent year-on-year in October, primarily fueled by higher demand for food purchases and food delivery services, as reported by the country’s statistics agency on Monday. The total value of these transactions reached 20.28 trillion won (approximately US$14.51 billion) during the month, compared to 20.15 trillion won recorded in the same period last year.

According to Yonhap News Agency, online spending on food and beverages surged by 17.5 percent year-on-year, amounting to 2.89 trillion won, while sales for food delivery services rose by 15.6 percent, totaling 2.53 trillion won. However, there was a significant decline in online shopping for e-coupon services, which plummeted 51 percent year-on-year to 445.4 billion won. This drop followed payment delays by e-commerce platforms TMON and WeMakePrice.

The two e-commerce platforms, owned by Singapore-based Qoo10, filed for court receivership in July after failing to make payments
to vendors and issue refunds to customers. These financial challenges arose due to liquidity issues, which were a result of aggressive merger deals pursued by their owner.

Additionally, purchases made through smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices saw an increase of 4.2 percent year-on-year, totaling 15.42 trillion won. This segment represented a substantial 76 percent of the overall online shopping transactions in the country.