Online shopping inches up 0.9 pct in May on demand for food services

SEOUL, July 1 (Yonhap) -- Online shopping sales in South Korea edged up 0.9 percent from a year earlier in May, mainly driven by rising demand for food products and relevant services, data showed Tuesday. The value of online shopping transactions stood at 22.49 trillion won (US$16.66 billion) in May, up 197 billion won from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The growth was led by a sharp increase in demand for food services, which jumped 14.2 percent on-year to 4.41 trillion won. Online sales of food and beverages also advanced 5.6 percent on-year to 3.86 trillion won, the data showed. But transactions for e-coupon services plummeted 47.1 percent on-year to 514.3 billion won. Purchases made through smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices increased 2.9 percent on-year to 17.36 trillion won. Mobile gadget-based shopping accounted for 77.2 percent of the total online sales in May, up 1.5 percentage points from a year earlier, the data showed. This illustration depicts mobile shopping. (Yonhap) khj@yna.co.kr(END)

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SEOUL, July 1 (Yonhap) — Online shopping sales in South Korea edged up 0.9 percent from a year earlier in May, mainly driven by rising demand for food products and relevant services, data showed Tuesday.

The value of online shopping transactions stood at 22.49 trillion won (US$16.66 billion) in May, up 197 billion won from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

The growth was led by a sharp increase in demand for food services, which jumped 14.2 percent on-year to 4.41 trillion won.

Online sales of food and beverages also advanced 5.6 percent on-year to 3.86 trillion won, the data showed.

But transactions for e-coupon services plummeted 47.1 percent on-year to 514.3 billion won.

Purchases made through smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices increased 2.9 percent on-year to 17.36 trillion won.

Mobile gadget-based shopping accounted for 77.2 percent of the total online sales in May, up 1.5 percentage points from a year earlier, the data showed.