Even with Reduced Spending on Daily Necessities, Airline Tickets and Taxis See High Usage
Consumer Sentiment Remains Generous Toward Travel-Related Spending
Department Store and Duty-Free Shop Payments Increase
Online Shopping, Supermarkets, and Convenience Stores Experience Decline
As high inflation persists, consumers who have reduced spending on daily necessities were found to spend generously on travel.
According to first-quarter industry-specific estimated credit and debit card payment data compiled by the data platform IGAWorks Mobile Index on May 8, luxury goods payments saw the largest decrease, dropping by 19.0% compared to the first quarter of last year. Spending on books and tickets (-14.3%), groceries (-9.0%), beauty and healthcare (-4.9%), and video and music (-3.4%) also declined across the board.
As high inflation continues, consumers who have reduced spending on daily necessities have opened their wallets generously for travel. Luxury goods payments decreased by 19.0%, showing the largest decline. Expenditures on books and tickets also fell sharply by 14.3%. Getty Images
In contrast, payments for airline tickets and taxis increased by 20.7%, and spending in the travel and accommodation sector rose by 5.5%. This indicates that while consumers were frugal in purchasing daily necessities, their sentiment toward travel-related spending remained relatively generous.
Amid worsening consumer sentiment, consumers who reduced spending on daily necessities were found to open their wallets generously for travel. The photo is a reference image to aid understanding of the article. Pixabay
By distribution channel, payments at department stores and duty-free shops increased by 4.3%. However, online shopping and supermarkets/convenience stores saw estimated decreases of 9.5% and 2.0%, respectively.
Coupang's dominance in online shopping became more pronounced. As of March, Coupang's share of card payment amounts reached 64%, up 6 percentage points from 58% in the same month last year.
On the other hand, payment amounts decreased across the board for Gmarket (9% to 5%), 11st (7% to 6%), SSG.com (6% to 5%), and Auction (3% to 2%). Among major online shopping malls, only AliExpress saw a slight increase, from 2% to 3%.
Despite nearly a 10% decrease in total payments to online shopping malls in the first quarter of this year due to the consumption downturn, Coupang increased its transaction volume and further solidified its dominance.
In the beauty and healthcare sector, which includes six companies?CJ Olive Young, Amorepacific, Atomy, APR, Innisfree, and Hwahae?Olive Young further strengthened its leading position. CJ Olive Young accounted for 67.3% of total payments in this sector, reaffirming its status as the absolute leader.
The number of monthly users of its mobile application also reached 6.88 million as of March, capturing a 90% market share in the makeup and cosmetics sector. Olive Young maintained the top spot across all age groups, from teenagers to those in their 60s and older.
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