South Korea's online transaction volume increased by 20% year-on-year in 2020, reaching a total transaction volume of US$140 billion

Let’s start with South Korea’s data from December last year . As the epidemic prevention and control efforts intensified, more and more South Koreans purchased goods through e-commerce platforms, and the number of online shoppers in South Korea hit a new high in December.

South Korea's online transactions reached 15.9 trillion won ($14.2 billion) in December, up 26.1 percent from the previous year, according to Statistics Korea .

Purchases made through smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices rose 33.8 percent year-on-year to 11.1 trillion won in December, accounting for about 69 percent of the total value of online shopping.

According to the statistics agency, online purchases of electronics and household goods ranked at the top of the growth. Online purchases of electronics and other 3C products increased by 56.1% to 1.9 trillion won. Online purchases of various household goods increased by 54.7% to 1.4 trillion won.

With the release of December data, South Korea's overall online transaction data for 2020 was also released! Throughout 2020, the use of online shopping increased dramatically as people avoided going to stores due to concerns about infection risks.

According to data from the Korea National Statistical Office, due to strong demand for contactless transactions during the epidemic, South Korea's online shopping transaction volume in 2020 was as predicted (previously predicted to be 160 trillion won), reaching 161.1 trillion won (about 934 billion yuan), an increase of 19.1% year-on-year, setting a record high since 2001 .

Last year , online shopping accounted for 27.2% of total retail sales , a record high. Among them, mobile terminal transactions increased by 24.5% year-on-year to 108.7 trillion won, also a record high.

By service and product category, food and beverages increased ( 48.3%), daily necessities (44.1%). On the contrary, the transaction volume of cultural and leisure services (-69.3%), and tourism and travel services (-53.3%) decreased significantly.

By country or region, the transaction volume in ASEAN ( -31.4%) and Japan (-13.6% ) decreased, while the transaction volume in China increased by 0.9 % . And thanks to the hard work of Chinese sellers, the transaction volume of Korean consumers' overseas shopping reached 4.1 trillion won, an increase of 13% year-on-year, setting a record high.

As the fifth largest e-commerce market in the world, in terms of the market situation in South Korea, it is also a good e-commerce market and opportunity for cross-border sellers, which really cannot be ignored!

South Korea

Online Shopping

Transaction Amount