The average per-capita purchase amount declined year on year in the segment of low-priced daily necessities but increased in the segment of high-priced items. (Image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Nov. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — When South Korean consumers buy daily necessities at online shopping malls, they tend to care about price and attempt to buy large quantities at bargain prices.
However, when they buy high-priced items, they are more likely to splurge without caring much about price.
eBay Korea analyzed sales data from its online shopping malls – Gmarket and Auction – for the January to August period of this year.
The analysis showed that the average per-capita purchase amount declined year on year in the segment of low-priced daily necessities but increased in the segment of high-priced items.
For monitor and printer products that are relatively higher priced items, the average per-capita purchase amount marked a 57 percent increase from a year ago.
This can be interpreted as saying that the consumer who purchased a 1 million won monitor last year is buying a 1.57 million won (US$1,410) monitor this year.
The average per-capita purchase amount also marked a robust year-on-year growth in the segments of notebooks and PCs (49 percent), mobile devices and tablets (49 percent), life and beauty home electronics (43 percent) and furniture and interior products (28 percent).
In contrast, the average per-capita purchase amount for low-priced consumer goods such as body and hair products, birth and childcare products, and processed foods registered a relatively lower growth rate of 10 to 12 percent.
In particular, the average per-capital purchase amount for daily necessities and innerwear declined by 2 percent and 7 percent, respectively, from a year ago.
Despite the gap in the growth of the average per-capita purchase amount between high-priced items and daily necessities, they both registered moderate growth in average per-capita purchase volume.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
