The Korea Herald

피터빈트

Goods bought from foreign e-commerce shops surge in last 5 years: report

By KH디지털2

Published : Feb. 15, 2015 - 13:27

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Goods bought from foreign e-commerce shops surged over the last five years with the increase being fueled by demand for such products as coffee, handbags and sneakers, a government report showed Sunday.

According to Korea Customs Service (KCS), imports from on-line shops excluding printed materials, compact discs and tissue soared 60 percent in terms of volume and 48.4 percent in value. The data covers a period from January 2009 through June 2014.

South Koreans purchased 70.62 million items worth 2.11 trillion won (US$1.92 billion) in the cited period, and of this, 401.9 million won (US$365.3 million) were imported in the first six months of last year. This represents a 21.7 percent and 57.1 percent jump from 12.11 million items and 255.9 million won posted for the first half of 2013.

In 2009, the KCS said South Koreans bought 2.2 million items worth 91.1 billion won.

The customs service said in terms of numbers and value of items, coffee, handbags and sneakers were the most imported products along with health supplements, cosmetics and clothing.

Coffee purchases alone in the last two years reached 15.2 billion won or some 540,374 shipments. For the five-year period, this reached 18.61 billion won, totaling 648,444 shipments.

Volume for handbags reached 449,651 shipments worth 49.87 billion won during the five-year period, while for the last two years, numbers hit 39.61 billion won and 375,772 shipments.

Numbers for sneakers for 2013 and 2014 reached 70.76 billion won and 926,648 items with overall numbers topping 107.91 billion won and 1.47 million shipments.

The findings added there was a sharp increase in consumer electronics such as TVs and miscellaneous kitchenware along with food products.

By country, South Koreans bought from on-line shops located in 137 countries, but the U.S., Germany, China and New Zealand accounted for 96 percent of all products as calculated in volume, although the latter accounted for just 2 percent.

U.S. shopping malls made up 85 percent of all items imported and 72 percent of the value. The corresponding numbers for Germany stood at 5 percent and 11 percent, with China standing at 4 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

Goods bought from the United States centered around health food, along with fashion items and baby products. Purchases from Germany were mainly baby products, cosmetics and kitchen-related goods, while local consumers bought sneakers, handbags and clothing from China.

KCS said it plans help consumers buy products directly from abroad as part of its efforts to fuel competition, which can bring down prices while enhancing quality of service. (Yonhap)