The number of online shoppers in South Korea saw a sharp increase in June, largely as the recent outbreak of the Middle East respiratory syndrome drove people away from visiting large retail outlets.

Online shopping volume reached roughly 4.43 trillion won ($3.78 billion) in June, up 26.6 percent over the same period last year, according to Statistics Korea on Monday.

Online shopping sales took up 15.1 percent of the country’s total retail sales in June of this year, the highest recorded since official monitoring began in January 2010.

Meanwhile, Korea’s overall retail sales edged down by 0.6 percent to stand at around 29.35 trillion won this June, compared to the same period last year.

The most popular items purchased online included agricultural products, meat and seafood, which saw the biggest on-year increase in sales at 55.5 percent, followed by food and beverages at 54.5 percent, living and automobile parts at 49.7 percent and children’s products at 39.3 percent.