Cross-border online shopping of South Korea products saw fast growth in 2016 with Chinese consumers the fastest.
Consumers in Greater China areas bought 584.2 billion won (US$5 billion) worth of products from South Korea via online shopping in 2016 with an increase of 74.8% compared to 2015 according to KOSTAT. Overall, foreign online shoppers bought 721.9 billion won (US$6.22 billion) products from South Korea.
South Korea cosmetics is the most attractive product category for foreign buyers. In the fourth quarter of 2016, foreign consumers spent 54.7 billion won (US$ 465 million) in the purchase of Korean cosmetics, accounting for 74.9% of South Korea’s cross-border online shopping sales.
The second most popular product category is fashion and accessories, contributing 10.8 billion won (US$86 million) to the South Korean economy.
South Korea’s total sales of retail e-commerce (excluding travel) will reach US$52.61 billion in 2017 according to eMarketer.