yStats.com, secondary E-Commerce market research specialist from Germany, has released a new report “South Korea B2C E-Commerce Market 2017”. The publication cites statistics, trends and predictions related to the online retail market in South Korea and concludes that while the country’s B2C E-Commerce is already advanced, more growth is yet to come from mobile shopping.
South Korea is the third largest online retail market in Asia. It is also one of the most advanced both in this region and worldwide, with B2C E-Commerce’s share of total retail sales approaching the 20% threshold in 2016, according to sources cited in this report by yStats.com. South Korea has a well-developed Internet infrastructure; its Internet penetration is the highest in the region. More than 50% of Internet users make purchases online and among them, two-thirds do so at least once a month.
Travel, clothes and electronics were the largest product categories in terms of 2016 B2C E-Commerce sales, in line with the global trend. The purchase of groceries is where online shoppers in South Korea stand out, as yStats.com’s report reveals. A double-digit share of retail sales of FMCG was made online in 2016, while in other advanced markets such as the USA, the UK and France this share is still in single-digits. Moreover, above one-half of online sales of groceries was transacted via mobile devices.
M-Commerce is another area where online shoppers in South Korea reached remarkable heights, according the findings of yStats.com. More than 50% of B2C E-Commerce sales in this country stem from mobile. Driven by convenience of mobile shopping, consumers in South Korea increasingly turn to mobile devices for making purchases online. As of early 2017, smartphone stands as the favorite device of South Korean online shoppers, with the share of Internet users buying on mobile exceeding the share of those using computers to shop.
As mobile commerce is growing at double the rates of overall online retail sales, the competition between major market players is increasingly shifting to the mobile field. Mobile shopping applications from 11Street and Coupang record the highest number of users, each in seven-digit figures, while eBay Korea, with its marketplaces Gmarket and Auction, remains the leader by overall B2C E-Commerce market share.
