Purchases made through mobile devices in South Korea continued to break new records last month as a growing number of people spend more time with their handsets, government data showed Friday. (Image: Yonhap)
SEJONG, Sept. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Purchases made through mobile devices in South Korea continued to break new records last month as a growing number of people spend more time with their handsets, government data showed Friday.
Mobile transactions through smartphones and tablets reached an all-time high of 4.04 trillion won (US$3.5 billion) in August, up 29.5 percent from a year earlier, according to data from Statistics Korea.
The total amount of mobile transactions accounted for 61.9 percent of all online purchases made during the month.
Mobile purchases in South Korea have been on a steep rise for years as smart devices are widening their presence in the world’s most wired country and rapidly replacing computers as a means of conducting online transactions.
Mobile bookings for travel and movie tickets surged 35.5 percent in August from a year earlier to a record 755.8 billion won in the summer vacation season, while sales of cosmetics jumped 20.7 percent on-year to 344.8 billion won.
Food delivery services increased 38.2 percent on-year to 610.3 billion won last month, while 381 billion won worth of electronic goods was sold through smartphones, up 18.3 percent from a year earlier.
(Yonhap)
