online shopping-April tally

▲ This file photo taken May 21, 2023, shows the bustling shopping district of Myeongdong in central Seoul. (Yonhap)

online shopping-April tally

Online shopping up 6 pct in April on high demand for travel, leisure activities

SEOUL, June 1 (Yonhap) -- Online shopping in South Korea jumped 6 percent on-year in April on high demand for travel and outdoor programs amid the eased COVID-19 restrictions, data showed Thursday.

The value of online shopping transactions amounted to 17.86 trillion won (US$13.52 billion) in April, compared with 16.84 trillion won tallied a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

The growth came as online sales of travel and transportation spiked 43.3 percent on-year to 1.85 trillion won in April. It was the largest figure for any April ever, the data showed.

Demand for culture and leisure services also advanced 22.7 percent on-year to 202.5 billion won in April.

But demand for food delivery services inched down 1.4 percent to 2.89 trillion won, apparently as more people dined out amid eased concerns over the virus.

In March, the government removed the mask mandate on public transportation around two months after the removal of mask-wearing rules for most indoor spaces in a major step toward the return to pre-pandemic normalcy.

Purchases made through smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices increased 4.5 percent on-year to 13.16 trillion won in April, according to the data.


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