Online shopping transactions in September increased by 2.7% compared to the previous month. Sales of automobiles and auto parts surged by 44%, while clothing and agricultural products rose by 25.1% and 24.4%, respectively. In contrast, travel and transportation services, as well as food services, saw declines compared to the previous month.
According to the National Data Agency's report on 'September 2026 Online Shopping Trends' released on November 2, the total online shopping transaction amount for September was 24.97 trillion won, marking a 4.1% increase from the same month last year. Compared to the previous month, this represents an increase of 6.53 trillion won (2.7%). However, the year-on-year growth rate has decreased by 3.4 percentage points from August's 7.7%.
By product category, transactions for automobiles and auto parts reached 1.27 trillion won, up 44.0% from the previous month. Clothing sales amounted to 1.67 trillion won, a 25.1% increase, while agricultural and marine products totaled 1.67 trillion won, rising by 24.4%. Food and beverage sales also increased by 6.7% to 3.78 trillion won.
Compared to the same month last year, transactions for automobiles and auto parts (30.9%), agricultural and marine products (9.7%), and food services (5.9%) all saw increases. Cosmetics sales rose by 12.2% to 1.29 trillion won, and e-coupon services increased by 19.4%. Conversely, electronics and appliances saw a decline of 7.0% to 1.22 trillion won compared to the same month last year.
Some product categories experienced declines compared to the previous month. Travel and transportation services saw transactions drop by 14.6% to 2.87 trillion won. Food services decreased by 11.2% to 3.53 trillion won, and cultural and leisure services fell by 29.5%. In terms of overall online shopping transactions, food and beverage accounted for the largest share at 15.1%, followed by food services at 14.1% and travel and transportation services at 11.5%.
Mobile transactions continued to grow, with September's mobile shopping amount reaching 19.08 trillion won, a 5.4% increase from the same month last year. Compared to the previous month, this was a modest increase of 0.2%. Mobile shopping accounted for 76.4% of total online shopping transactions, up 1.0 percentage points from the same month last year, but down 1.9 percentage points from the previous month (78.3%).
In mobile shopping, transactions for agricultural and marine products increased by 15.2% compared to the same month last year, while food services and food and beverage sales rose by 6.0% and 5.6%, respectively. However, clothing sales decreased by 7.9%. The highest mobile transaction shares were for food services at 99.1%, followed by e-coupon services at 92.2% and pet supplies at 84.3%.
By sales format, both general and specialized malls saw increases compared to the same month last year. General mall transactions reached 13.68 trillion won, up 3.7%, while specialized mall transactions rose by 4.6% to 11.29 trillion won. Compared to the previous month, general malls increased by 6.7%, while specialized malls saw a decrease of 1.7%.
In terms of operational format, online mall transactions totaled 18.98 trillion won, a 3.2% increase from the same month last year. Hybrid online-offline malls saw a 6.8% increase to 5.99 trillion won. Compared to the previous month, online malls increased by 0.7%, while hybrid malls rose by 9.6%.
Meanwhile, excluding service transactions such as travel and transportation, the online shopping product transaction amount for September was recorded at 17.41 trillion won. This accounted for 29.7% of total retail sales, up 0.5 percentage points from the previous month (29.2%).
* This article has been translated by AI.
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