À̹ÌÁö È®´ë South Korea¡¯s retail industry is undergoing landscape change with online sales on track to overwhelm revenue at traditional brick-and-mortar stores.
According to a study by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday, the combined revenue generated from non-store retailing like online stores jumped 13.3 percent to 61.2 trillion won ($53.9 billion) in 2017 from a year ago period. Convenience store segment also grew sharply last year with the sector recording combined sales of 22.2 trillion won, up 14.1 percent on year.
Their ascension came at the expense of traditional players of department stores, big box store chains, and supermarkets. Department stores saw their combined sales fall 2.0 percent on year to 29.3 billion won while total revenue at discount and big-box stores stopped at 33.8 billion won, up 1.7 percent on year. Sales at grocery stores grew 2.4 percent on year to 45.4 billion won.
As of the end of 2017, there were 1.02 million retailers in operation, making up more than a quarter of the country¡¯s businesses. The sector employed 3.16 million, second largest after the manufacturing sector.
By Lee Yoo-jin and Cho Jeehyun
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]