Online Shopping Transaction Amount Reaches 21.8674 Trillion Won... Largest Ever for January

Transaction Volume of Related Product Categories Increases Due to Lunar New Year Effects

In January, online shopping transaction volume exceeded 21.8 trillion won, marking the largest scale ever recorded for January. The Lunar New Year holiday led to increased transaction volumes in product categories such as agricultural, livestock, and fishery products, as well as food and beverages.

Seoul Myeongdong street scene. Unrelated to the article content. Photo by Yonhap News.

According to the 'January 2025 Online Shopping Trends' released by Statistics Korea on the 5th, online shopping transaction volume in January reached 21.8674 trillion won, a 1.3% (285.6 billion won) increase compared to the same month last year. This is the largest scale ever recorded for January since related statistics began in January 2017. However, the growth rate remained the lowest among all periods since the statistics were first compiled.

Compared to the same month last year, online shopping transaction volumes increased in product categories such as food services (18.2%), agricultural, livestock, and fishery products (22.6%), and food and beverages (9.2%). On the other hand, e-coupon services continued to decline by 36.2%, affected by the ongoing impact of last year's Timof (Timon and Wemakeprice) incident. Transaction volumes also decreased in categories such as telecommunications devices (-24.3%), computers and peripherals (-16.3%), and bags (-16.3%).

A Statistics Korea official explained, "The Lunar New Year fell in January this year, whereas it was in February last year," adding, "Due to the Lunar New Year effect, transaction volumes for food and beverages and agricultural, livestock, and fishery products increased." The official also noted, "Food services have been continuously increasing since last year as food delivery platforms expanded free delivery services."

Among online shopping, mobile shopping transaction volume rose by 5.9% (955.8 billion won) to 17.2717 trillion won. The share of mobile shopping transaction volume increased by 3.4 percentage points year-on-year to 79.0%. Declines were observed in e-coupon services (-22.6%), telecommunications devices (-19.0%), automobiles and automobile accessories (-15.0%), and bags (-13.6%). Conversely, transaction volumes increased in product categories such as other services (55.6%) and agricultural, livestock, and fishery products (26.8%).