Online and app purchases up dramatically in April

People enjoy the beach at Haeundae, Busan, on May 30 as the warm weather attracted beachgoers. Online travel, leisure and cultural purchases rose sharply in April. [YONHAP]

Online travel and transportation purchases in April rose 55.2 percent year-on-year to 686.3 billion won, Statistics Korea reported Thursday.

Culture and leisure online purchases rose 84.5 percent to 87.3 billion won, and sports and leisure online purchases rose 29.3 percent to 568 billion won.

Purchases made via mobile devices grew faster.

Mobile purchases of travel and transportation year-on-year rose 51.5 percent to 518.6 billion won in April. Culture and leisure spending via apps rose 171.2 percent to 55.4 billion won.

“In the case of travel and leisure, the base effect was a major factor” said Lee Min-kyung, the statistics agency’s service industry official. “It seems the rapid inoculation and the recovery of consumer confidence, which has been low, also had an effect.”

Overall online shopping rose 25.2 percent to 15.1 trillion won in April on year, the second consecutive month in which online purchases were above 15 billion won.

Online purchases exceeded 15 trillion won for the first time in November 2020, and remained above that level until February, when they dropped.

Mobile online shopping rose 34 percent in April on year to 10.7 trillion won. Shopping via mobile devices is now 71.1 percent of all online shopping, up from 66.5 percent a year earlier.

Online food orders rose 56.5 percent on year to 1.97 trillion won in April. Online food and beverage grocery purchases rose 29.5 percent to 1.97 trillion won. Of these, 97.2 percent of the orders were made via mobile device, a record.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]