Invest KOREA

According to Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea,

South Korea’s online grocery transactions surpassed 40 trillion won ($29.8 billion) for the first time in 2023 amid the ongoing shift to non-face-to-face shopping even after the end of the pandemic.

According to data released by Statistics Korea on Tuesday, the value of online transactions for food and agricultural products stood at 40.68 trillion won in 2023, more than doubling from 17 trillion won in 2019 before the pandemic.

The value of the transactions has been on a rise by about 5 trillion won every year, reaching 25.3 trillion won in 2020, 31.2 trillion won in 2021, and 36.1 trillion won in 2022.

The surge comes as consumers opt for fresh food and ingredients through mobile and online platforms that offer same-day or early morning delivery services.

In particular, food and beverage product transactions reached 29.8 trillion won last year, up 12.1 percent from the previous year. Transactions of agricultural, livestock, and fisheries products exceeded 10 trillion won, up 14.3 percent during the same period.

The food and beverage category includes manufactured food products such as coffee, beverages, bottled water, sugar, cooking oil, baby formula, as well as traditional Korean pickled and fermented foods like kimchi.

Online transactions for fully-cooked, delivery food services, on the other hand, fell 0.6 percent to 26.4 trillion won in 2023, the first decline since 2017.

The trend is attributed to the resumption of external activities and a rise in dining-out demand after the pandemic.

By Kim Geum-yi and Chang Iou-chung

Copyrights Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea. All Rights Reserved.

Source: Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea (February 14, 2024)