A cafe in eastern Seoul is empty on Jan. 5, 2021, with government restrictions banning dining in due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 22 (Korea Bizwire) — The rapid growth of online shopping triggered by the pandemic has led to significant drop in the number of sales workers in South Korea.
The number of sales workers stood at 2,628,000 last month, down 92,000 from a year ago, and the number of such workers has been on a downward trend for 42 straight months starting from September 2019, according to the data from Statistics Korea.
In stark contrast, the number of overall workers has been on an upward trend for 24 straight months starting from March 2021.
The aggregate value of online shopping transactions reached an all-time high of 209.9 trillion won (US$160.7 billion) last year, up 10.3 percent year on year.
In particular, the aggregate value of mobile shopping transactions jumped to 156.9 trillion won last year, up 79.6 percent from 2019. During this period, the value of overall online shopping transactions increased by 53.6 percent.
Even when it came to shopping for shoes, it was common for consumers to visit offline stores and make a purchase after trying shoes on. However, that’s no longer normal today.
The value of online shopping transactions for shoes reached 3.9 trillion won last year, up 60 percent compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
The value of online shopping transactions for furniture also jumped by 47 percent from 3.5 trillion won to 5.2 trillion won during the same period.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
