Online shopping sales in South Korea rose at the slowest pace ever in August due to payment delays by major e-commerce platforms and unfavorable weather conditions, the statistics agency said Wednesday.
The value of online shopping transactions rose 1.9 percent to stand at 19.56 trillion won (US$14.81 billion) in August, according to the data from Statistics Korea.
It marked the smallest on-year growth since January 2017, when the agency began compiling relevant data.
Victims of the payment delay incident involving WeMakePrice and TMON hold a protest in Seoul on Sept. 8, 2024. (Yonhap)
Victims of the payment delay incident involving WeMakePrice and TMON hold a protest in Seoul on Sept. 8, 2024. (Yonhap)
Demand for food and beverages jumped 15.5 percent on-year to 3.32 trillion won.
Sales for food delivery services also advanced 15.4 percent to a record high of 2.74 trillion won, and sales of agricultural and fisheries products rose 13.4 percent ahead of the Chuseok holiday.
Demand for everyday items o
n online platforms added 9.7 percent to 2.72 trillion won.
But online shopping for e-coupon services sank 48.6 percent on-year to 426.2 billion won in the aftermath of the payment delays of TMON and WeMakePrice.
The two e-commerce platforms, owned by the Singapore-based company Qoo10, filed for court receivership in July after failing to make payments to their vendors and provide refunds to customers amid liquidity issues due to their owner’s aggressive merger deals.
The government estimates that overdue payments amount to 1.28 trillion won, affecting around 48,000 vendors.
Purchases made through smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices climbed 5.4 percent on-year to 14.98 trillion won.
Mobile gadget-based shopping accounted for 76.6 percent of the total online sales in August, up 2.5 percentage points from a year earlier, the data showed.
Source: Yonhap News Agency