August Online Shopping Up 1.9%... Growth Rate Hits Record Low Due to Timeff Impact

Online Shopping Transaction Amount 19.558 Trillion Won
Lowest Growth Rate Recorded Again in August Following July

The online shopping transaction amount in August recorded the lowest growth rate ever at 1.9%. This appears to be a result of the ongoing impact of the TMON and WEMAKEPRICE (Timep) incident.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the 'August 2024 Online Shopping Trends' announced by Statistics Korea on the 2nd, the total online shopping transaction amount in August was 19.558 trillion KRW, an increase of 1.9% (365.9 billion KRW) compared to the same month last year.

This is the lowest growth rate and increase amount since statistics began in January 2017. Due to the delay in Timep settlement, online consumer sentiment has weakened, causing the online shopping transaction amount to record the lowest growth rate ever (5.4%) once in July, and then break the record again in August.

Transaction amounts for products such as telecommunications devices and e-coupon services decreased relatively significantly. The transaction amount for telecommunications devices recorded 435 billion KRW, down 25.6% compared to the same month last year. The e-coupon service transaction amount sharply dropped by 48.6% to 426.2 billion KRW.

Transaction amounts for major categories such as food and groceries and food services increased. Food and groceries increased by 15.5% compared to the same month last year to 3.0321 trillion KRW, and food services rose by 15.4% to 2.735 trillion KRW. Both categories recorded the largest transaction amounts since statistics began.

The share of mobile shopping in total online shopping transactions was 76.6%, up 2.5 percentage points from the same month last year. Mobile shopping transaction amount was 14.9817 trillion KRW, an increase of 5.4% compared to the same month last year.

By product range, the transaction amount for comprehensive malls decreased by 2.0% compared to the same month last year to 11.3992 trillion KRW. On the other hand, specialized malls increased by 8.0% to 8.1589 trillion KRW. By operation type, online malls increased by 0.4% to 15.0065 trillion KRW, and online-offline hybrid malls increased by 7.1% to 4.5516 trillion KRW.