10 key facts about South Korea e-commerce (updated Mar 2019)

Hi there,

Due to popular demand for my previous post about “South Korea e-commerce landscape” back in 2016, I am updating it with the latest data points from Mar 2019 here. I hope you enjoy the updated version.

This post is part of the series about South Korea that I have been writing in 2019. I updated this post with the latest information available in 2020: key facts about South Korea e-commerce 2020.

You can find other posts here:

8 key facts about South Korea Mobile Game industry

South Korea subscription video on demand (SVOD) : key facts and trends

South Korea digital marketing landscape (updated 2019)

1. South Korea is amongst the top 5 in the world in terms of retail e-commerce sales revenue

Retail Ecommerce Sales south korea china japan us uk dec 2018

South Korea ranks 3rd in the world for retail e-commerce penetration

Retail Ecommerce Sales Penetration south korea china and g7 countries 2019

2. From growth perspective, South Korea e-commerce growth rate is on par with G7 economies but much lower than China

Retail Ecommerce Sales Growth south korea china g7 countries 2019

3. About 2/3 of retail e-commerce in South Korea happens on mobile, which makes South Korea ranks number 4th in the world in terms of retail M-commerce sales penetration

Retail Mcommerce Sales Penetration south korea dec 2018

4. South Korea ranks number 10th in the world in terms of digital buyer penetration

Digital Buyer Penetration by country dec 2018

5. South Korean really buy a variety of products/services online from travel to food, household goods, clothing, furniture, pet products etc

B2C ecommerce sales in south korea by product service category q3 2017 Q3 2018

6. Top mobile e-commerce in South Korea are all local players

top mobile ecommerce platform in south korea dec 2018

7. South Korea ranks number 3rd for Proximity Mobile Payment user penetration in the world

south korea ranks 3 in proximity mobile payment penetration feb 2019

8. Top mobile payment apps in South Korea are Naver Pay, Kakao Pay, Samsung Pay

9. South Korean online shoppers mostly buy foreign products/services from the US and Europe (around 70% of total sales)

south korean online shopper buy mostly from the US and Europe Feb 2019

10. Biggest shopping holiday seasons in South Korea : Korea Sale FESTA (KSF) and Winter Holiday Season

That’s it from me.

Cheers,

Chandler

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