The patterns show that food purchased online is mostly consumed at home, while fresh food holiday gifts purchased offline are gifted to others. (image: Lotte Mart)
SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — An increasing number of South Koreans are purchasing Chuseok holiday gifts online instead of going to a brick and mortar store.
When it comes to fresh food, however, consumers still prefer to make purchases in person.
Lotte Mart reported that holiday gifts accounted for 8.1 percent of total online sales between July 25 and August 8, up by 1.8 percentage points from last year.
The increasing rate of holiday gift sales online was 8.3 percent in 2017, 9.1 percent in 2018, and 10.5 percent this year, reflecting the rising demand among consumers for convenience.
Additional discounts and other promotions for purchasing online goods help to boost online sales.
Of online holiday gift sales, 81.4 percent were for processed food. Other kinds of holiday gifts, including fruit, meat, and other fresh food products only accounted for 6.4 percent of all gift sales.
For offline shopping, however, fresh food holiday gifts accounted for 21.8 percent of all sales.
The patterns show that food purchased online is mostly consumed at home, while fresh food holiday gifts purchased offline are gifted to others.
“Processed food and other daily necessities are typically purchased online thanks to additional discount benefits,” said Lotte Mart.
“Fresh food holiday gifts, however, are more likely to be purchased offline so as to reflect the intention of the consumers to choose the gifts that they most like and present them to their loved ones.”
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
