South Korea’s e-commerce market to exceed $160b in 2027

It is backed by increasing consumer confidence and smartphone penetration.

South Korea’s e-commerce market is expected to grow annually by 7.7% from 2023 to 2027 to reach $160.4b as the well-developed sector is supported by the country’s high-speed internet and increasing smartphone adoption, according to GlobalData.

Shivani Gupta, senior analyst of Banking and Payments added that the availability of secure online payment systems and growing consumer confidence in online shopping.

According to GlobalData, the country’s e-commerce market posted a 17.4% growth rate between 2018 and 2022 and is expected to expand by 10% in 2023.

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Innovative online shopping features such as video live streaming are driving shoppers to buy online. For example, YouTube rolled out its first official online shopping channel, allowing live-streaming for products in the Korean language.

“Koreans increasingly prefer shopping online even for day-to-day products, a trend that continued post-COVID-19. GlobalData’s survey revealed that everyday essentials such as food and drinks account for nearly one-fourth of the e-commerce purchases by value in 2023, while clothing and footwear account for 12.2%,” Gupta said.