Online shopping in South Korea hit a record monthly high in November thanks to a rise in cyberspace trading through mobile phones, a government report showed on Monday.
Shopping on the Internet reached a new monthly high of 6.09 trillion won (5.04 billion U.S. dollars) in November, up 23.0 percent from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea.
It was the first time since related data began to be compiled in 2001 that the monthly figure surpassed 6 trillion won. The previous high was 5.65 trillion won tallied in October last year.
The online shopping topped 3 trillion won in November 2012, surging to 4 trillion won two years later and over 5 trillion won in December 2015.
The fast growth came as widespread use of smartphones encouraged consumers to buy products in cyberspace.
Mobile shopping through smartphones jumped 40.5 percent from a year earlier to 3.43 trillion won in November, accounting for 56.4 percent of the combined Internet shopping. Enditem
Source: Xinhua/NewsGhana.com.gh
