Online shopping hits new high in Sept. on virus, Chuseok holiday

SEJONG, Nov. 4 (Yonhap) -- Online shopping in South Korea soared to a new high in September due to the coronavirus pandemic and the Chuseok holiday, data showed Monday,

The value of online transactions stood at 14.72 trillion won (US$12.9 billion) in the month, up 30.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

It was also the largest monthly amount since the agency began tracking related data in 2001.

The surge was attributed largely to the pandemic that prompted more shoppers to buy goods via e-commerce platforms.

People also refrained from visiting their hometowns and rushed to purchase gifts online before the fall harvest Chuseok holiday that started on Sept. 30, the agency said.

Online sales of food and beverages spiked 76.8 percent from a year earlier to 2.18 trillion won in September. Food delivery services soared 91.1 percent on-year to 1.62 trillion won.

Purchases made through smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices jumped 30.9 percent on-year to 9.53 trillion won in September, accounting for 64.8 percent of overall online shopping.

In the third quarter of the year, the value of online shopping reached a record high of 42.04 trillion won, up 24.6 percent from a year earlier.

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