South Korea’s monthly online shopping transactions soared last month driven by strong demand for delivery food via mobile apps. data showed Friday.

According to data released by Statistics Korea, the value of online shopping transactions stood at 10.57 trillion won ($8.84 billion) in June, up 17.3 percent from the same month a year ago.

A total online transaction volume has remained above 10 trillion won since October 2018 except last February. The monthly figure hit an all-time high of 11.24 trillion won last May.

By product, food services surged 85.5 percent on-year to 767.9 billion won. The rise in food services via online and mobile apps contributed to almost 20 percent of the total gain of the online shopping transactions. Online sales of electronics and telecom devices also climbed 25.8 percent over the same period, food and beverage stuffs 26.5 percent and cosmetics 21.9 percent.

The value of mobile shopping transactions jumped 25.6 percent to 6.85 trillion won, accounting for 64.8 percent of total online shopping. Food service sales via mobile apps took up 93.8 percent of total online sales, followed by e-coupon services at 88.3 percent, bags 78 percent and kid products 75.6 percent.

The nation’s online direct purchases from overseas shopping platforms grew 29.5 percent from a year ago to 889.7 billion won in June. Korean consumers made the largest purchases from the United States at 427 billion won, followed by the European Union at 202.1 billion won, China 167 billion won and Japan 63.7 billion won.

By Moon Jae-yong and Choi Mira

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]