Auto and auto-parts transactions surge 155%; food and food-service sales continue to climb; travel slowdown pulls total down 5.7% from March

Tesla Model Y [Captured from Tesla Korea website]
Tesla Model Y [Captured from Tesla Korea website]

South Korea's online shopping transactions topped 24 trillion won ($16 billion) in April amid rising consumer spending on automobiles, food and grocery products, and food delivery services, sustaining double-digit year-on-year growth. Transactions in the auto category more than doubled, driven largely by expanded deliveries of imported electric vehicles.

The Ministry of Statistics released its April 2026 online shopping trend report Monday, showing total transactions reached 24.13 trillion won ($16.1 billion), up 10.0 percent — or 2.19 trillion won ($1.45 billion) — from the same month last year. The figure fell 5.7 percent from March, when online shopping hit a record 25.59 trillion won ($17 billion), but held above the 24 trillion won mark, reflecting continued underlying growth.

By product category, automobiles and auto parts led all segments with transactions of 1.05 trillion won ($697 million), a 154.8 percent surge from a year earlier, attributed to a jump in deliveries from major imported electric vehicle brands. Food and grocery transactions rose 9.6 percent to 3.36 trillion won ($2.24 billion), while food-service transactions — primarily food delivery apps — climbed 7.8 percent to 3.47 trillion won ($2.31 billion).

[Provided by the Ministry of Statistics]
[Provided by the Ministry of Statistics]

Food-service transactions accounted for the largest share of total online shopping at 14.4 percent, followed by food and groceries at 13.9 percent and travel and transportation services at 11.8 percent. In absolute terms, food-service transactions of 3.47 trillion won ($2.31 billion) were the biggest of any product category.

Travel and transportation services, which had benefited from spring travel demand and advance airline ticket purchases in March, fell 13.0 percent from the previous month to 2.85 trillion won ($1.9 billion). Telecommunications device transactions also dropped 39.6 percent month-on-month as the boost from new product launches faded. However, both categories remained above year-earlier levels, up 3.7 percent and 26.6 percent, respectively.

Mobile shopping transactions reached 18.44 trillion won ($12.3 billion), up 8.6 percent from a year earlier. Mobile's share of total online shopping fell 1.0 percentage point year-on-year to 76.4 percent, a decline attributed to stronger sales in higher-priced categories such as automobiles and telecommunications devices.

Among product categories, mobile shopping transactions grew particularly in food and groceries (up 11.1 percent), food services (up 7.8 percent) and cosmetics (up 16.6 percent). Food services recorded the highest mobile transaction share at 99.1 percent, followed by e-coupon services at 90.8 percent and pet supplies at 83.5 percent.

Meanwhile, cumulative online shopping transactions for the January-to-April period this year totaled 96.30 trillion won ($64.1 billion), up about 8.9 percent from 88.45 trillion won ($58.8 billion) in the same period last year. Online product transactions over the same stretch reached 65.77 trillion won ($43.8 billion), accounting for 30.2 percent of total retail sales — the highest share on record.


fact0514@heraldcorp.com