Online shopping inches up in October on increased food purchases, food delivery

The graphic of online shopping is seen in this undated photo. gettyimagesbank

Online shopping sales in Korea inched up 0.6 percent on-year in October, driven by increased demand in food purchases and food delivery services, the statistics agency said Monday.

The combined value of online shopping transactions came to 20.28 trillion won ($14.51 billion) in the month, compared with 20.15 trillion won tallied a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

Online spending on food and beverages skyrocketed 17.5 percent on-year to 2.89 trillion won, and sales for food delivery services advanced 15.6 percent to 2.53 trillion won.

Online shopping for e-coupon services, on the other hand, plunged 51 percent on-year to 445.4 billion won, following payment delays by 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 due to liquidity issues stemming from aggressive merger deals by their owner.

Purchases made through smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices climbed 4.2 percent on-year to 15.42 trillion won, accounting for 76 percent of the total. (Yonhap)