Seoul city conducts safety inspections on products purchased from Chinese e-commerce platforms. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Apr. 11 (Korea Bizwire) – Chinese online shopping platforms, such as AliExpress and Temu, have experienced a remarkable surge in sales, with an increase of over 130% in just six months since their entry into the South Korean market.
The data reveals that transactions under 30,000 won accounted for the majority of sales, at 78% of the total.
According to an analysis by BC Card comparing payment data from last October and March, aggregate payments on Chinese e-commerce platforms (C-commerce) increased by 138.8%, while the number of transactions grew by 130.6% during this period.
In contrast, domestic e-commerce platforms (K-commerce) saw a 2.5% decrease in payment amounts and a 1.1% drop in the number of transactions over the same period.
While the average payment amount on C-commerce platforms is significantly lower than on K-commerce platforms, the gap has narrowed slightly.
The average payment on C-commerce platforms increased from 23,745 won last October to 24,580 won in March, while the average payment on K-commerce platforms decreased from 39,369 won to 38,814 won during the same period.
Unlike K-commerce platforms, where transactions are relatively evenly distributed across different price ranges, C-commerce platforms are dominated by low-priced items.
As of March, transactions between 10,000 and 30,000 won accounted for 59.1% of C-commerce transactions, followed by 5,000 to 10,000 won (14.2%), 30,000 to 50,000 won (13.6%), 50,000 to 100,000 won (6.6%), and under 5,000 won (4.6%).
Transactions under 30,000 won represented 78% of the total.
In contrast, K-commerce platforms showed a more even distribution, with transactions between 10,000 and 30,000 won accounting for 40.1%, 30,000 to 50,000 won (17.8%), under 5,000 won (16.8%), 50,000 to 100,000 won (10.4%), and 5,000 to 10,000 won (9.8%).
Transactions under 30,000 won made up 67% of the total on K-commerce platforms.
When analyzed by age group, C-commerce platforms saw an increase in payment amounts across all age groups, while K-commerce platforms experienced a decrease in all age groups except for those in their 30s.
The age group with the highest increase in payment amounts on C-commerce platforms was those in their 40s (183%), followed by those in their 30s (148%), 50s (145%), 60s (108%), and teenagers (103%).
For K-commerce platforms, payment amounts increased by 4% only for those in their 30s, while decreasing by 1% to 10% for all other age groups.
In terms of gender patterns, C-commerce platforms initially showed a skew toward male users, with 69.4% of transactions made by men and 30.6% by women. However, as of March, the share of transactions made by women increased to 35.3%.
On K-commerce platforms, the ratio remained relatively stable, with men accounting for around 46% and women 53% of transactions during this period.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
