South Korea retail sales lift 7% on strong e-commerce

By

Benjamin Fitzgerald

Published
May 30, 2017

South Korean retail sales grew 7.2 percent in April year-on-year, on the back of strong e-commerce sales, according to government data.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said that the combined revenue of Korea's 26 major online and offline retailers totalled 9.81 trillion won ($8.73 billion) in April, compared with 9.15 trillion won the previous year,

The participating thirteen bricks-and-mortar retailers, including department stores, discount chains and convenience stores, saw sales rise 3.6 percent in April from a year ago. The remaining thirteen e-commerce sites and online channels run by big retailers jumped 15.4 percent from a year ago, driving up the overall sales growth.

Convenience stores saw sales gain 11.1 percent last month, with hypermarkets posting a 2.3 percent on-year growth in April, the data added.

Online sellers -- mainly social commerce sites and the online units of large retailers -- clocked a 26.5 percent yearly gain in sales. Meanwhile, open markets such as eBay Korea and Coupang, climbed 11.5 percent from a year earlier, the government said.