Online shopping keeps growing thanks to Covid

[YONHAP]

Online purchases hit another record last year thanks to the pandemic and greater reliance on meal and grocery deliveries.

According to Statistics Korea Thursday, online purchases totaled 192.9 trillion won ($160 billion) in 2021, up 21 percent from the year before. Purchase on mobile devices broke a record too at 138.2 trillion won, up 27.6 percent.

The agency projected online shopping to exceed 200 trillion won this year.

Restaurant deliveries grew 48.2 percent to 25.7 trillion won, accounting for 13.3 percent of all online purchases.

Grocery purchases increased 26.7 percent to reach 32.7 trillion won, or 17 percent of the total.

Consumer electronic goods and telecommunication devices took third place, growing 25.8 percent to 15 trillion won, or 11.8 percent of the total.

Fashion purchases including clothing, shoes and accessories increased 9.2 percent to nearly 50 trillion won.

In that category, handbag purchases grew 20.9 percent to 3.3 trillion won.

Sports and leisure goods were up 18.1 percent to 6.3 trillion won.

But cosmetics dropped 1.8 percent to 12.2 trillion won.

Direct online purchases from overseas exceeded 5 trillion won for the first time.

They grew 26.4 percent last year to 5.1 trillion won.

Purchases made on U.S. sites were the largest contingent, but the growth from Chinese sites was the briskest.

Koreans purchased 2 trillion won worth of good from U.S. sites, 40.5 percent of the total and 15 percent more than the previous year.

Purchases from Chinese site totaled 1.3 trillion won, or 26 percent, growing 63.6 percent.

Europe was the third biggest market with 1.1 trillion won, accounting for 22.3 percent. They grew 10.9 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, foreign buying directly from Korean online malls tumbled 27.4 percent from the year before to 4.3 trillion won.

Sales of cosmetics dropped 31.2 percent. Sales of music albums and videos dropped 22 percent.

Chinese buying of Korean goods fell 30.8 percent while purchases from Asean fell 33 percent and from the Middle East 36 percent.

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