S. Korea’s retail sales grow by 6.3% in July

South Korea’s retail sales grew by 6.3 per cent in July, driven by robust online sales of food and daily necessities, Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy reported on Tuesday.

This represents a slowdown from the 11.1 per cent growth in June, online retailers continued to demonstrate robust performance.

Their revenue surged by 16.9 per cent, marking the 11th consecutive month of double-digit growth since September 2023.

However, offline retailers faced challenges, with sales declining by three per cent due to frequent rainfall. This contrasts with the 3.7 per cent increase recorded in June.

Despite the overall slowdown in offline sales, food and daily necessities remained popular categories. Online demand for food soared by 21.0 per cent, and daily necessities sales increased by 12.8 per cent.

Additionally, online services, including travel, food delivery, and e-coupon purchases, experienced a significant surge of 61.6 per cent.

Attribution: Xinhua

Subediting: M. S. Salama