Away from Concentration on US
Koreans’ cross-border online shopping markets have diversified into Europe, China and Japan, breaking away from concentration on the US.
According to the Korea Customs Service on June 11, cross-border online shopping in the first half of this year totaled 10.96 million deals, up 34% from the previous year. The amount was US$ 977 million, up 30 percent from last year.
By country, the US accounted for the highest (57%), but its proportion is on a gradual downward spiral from year to year.
In the 2014-2015 period, the percentage stayed at 70% and fell to 65% last year and to the 50% level in the first half of this year.
The decrement in United States’ share went to Europe, China and Japan. Europe accounted for 16% which was double 8% in 2014. China’s share stood at 15%, up from 8% in 2015. Japan has been steadily expanding from 2% in 2014 to 9% this year.
Observing popular items by country, health functional foods such as vitamins accounted for 30% of American goods which Koreans bought via cross-border online shipping, and 31% of European goods were cosmetics and perfumes. Electronics took up 25% of products from China while foods such as jelly and chocolate 20% of those from Japan.