South Korea eCommerce Insights | mCommerce to Lead the eCommerce Charge

South Korea eCommerce Insights | mCommerce to Lead the eCommerce Charge

By eShopWorld, June 2016

mCommerce to reach 29 Billion USD by 2019 in South Korea eCommerce Market

Economy in South Korea

South Korea is home to one of the most connected populations with online internet penetration of more than 84%. Digital connection is a point of pride, with more Wi-Fi and high-speed connectivity options than anywhere else in the world. Online shopping is favored by the South Korea Market, with many already shopping from overseas merchants.

Marketing to Grow Cross Border South Korea eCommerce

Marketing spend in South Korea was traditionally television based, but the past 5 years have seen digital advertising rocket. Retailers building their brand in the South Korea market need to invest in traditional paid search, as well as more local platforms such as BrandSearch, a paid search tool which allows advertisers to control the SERP for brand search terms, and their brand image. However, social is more important with South Koreans expecting to find brands present on traditional social sites, as well as local ones such as Naver and Kakao Talk and Line.

South Korea is Highly Social Online

This highly connected society is constantly online, and there’s a definite trend towards Social Media usage.

The movement here is towards mobile apps, making them a key part of their South Korea eCommerce strategy in this country.

Leading social networks are similar to other countries with Facebook and Twitter topping the charts. But local services such as M2Day and Nate Connect are also popular. Research into Social Media channels used by companies shows that 87.1% use Facebook, 79.1% blog and 66.1% tweet, to help drive sales.

mCommerce the Future of South Korea eCommerce

In 2014, M-commerce sales reached 11.51 billion U.S. dollars and are expected to reach 29 billion U.S. dollars by 2019. In total, more than a third of internet users in the South Korea market have made a purchase via mobile phone. Korean smartphone users are also open to digital wallet usage. Over 52 percent have used mobile coupons.

Revenue of the South Korean eCommerce Market

Clothing leads the eCommerce market, with electronics following in second place. The average spend per user is USD 823.87 in 2016, with an almost 50:50 split between male and female shoppers in every age category.

Popular Payment Types in South Korea

Simple payments like Paypal are yet to break through with almost 40% of the population using alternate payment methods such as: Teencash—a charged card that is issued to those too young to receive a bank issued credit card; ARS—a mobile payment which allows users to purchase goods online using their phone number and a unique ARS code; there have been a number of other eWallets and social apps branching into

the payments landscape.

In the past, Koreans could only shop online using Internet Explorer, there was a movement to develop eCommerce across other browsers, but the launch of Active X failed and the Korean Government is now considering a security system called exe that will address security issues, and allow shoppers to use other browsers such as Chrome and Safari.

Special Offers and Reviews Grow South Korea eCommerce

66% of South Koreans say they’re more likely to buy from crossborder retailers offering favorable online prices, special offers and promotions. Reviews also highly influence the purchasing habits, of the South Korea Market, with 35.2% saying it is their most important criteria when considering shopping online.

Top Import Countries for South Korea eCommerce

In addition to eCommerce already having high penetration levels, there is also a tradition of importing goods (an important factor for crossborder sales). Top import origins are China ($88.9B), Japan ($52.5B), the United States ($43.9B), Saudi Arabia ($33.1B) and Qatar ($24.5B).

For more market insights, check out the eShopWorld series of blogs covering a range of emerging eCommerce markets.

*Insights derived from eShopWorld data, Statista, WorldBank, OECD and other industry sources.

Ref. eShopWorld, June 2016

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