SEOUL, May 6 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's online shopping posted a double-digit growth in March as people avoided outside activities such as shopping, traveling and social gatherings, on the fear of the COVID-19 outbreak, statistical office data showed Wednesday.
Shopping in the cyberspace amounted to 12.58 trillion won (10.3 billion U.S. dollars) in March, up 11.8 percent from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea.
Online purchase of agricultural, livestock and fishery products surged 91.8 percent as people preferred cooking at home. Food delivery services soared 75.8 percent, and the purchase of food and beverage advanced 59.4 percent.
The purchase of computer and peripherals in the cyberspace jumped 30.1 percent as office workers were encouraged to work at home. This year's new school year opened with online classes, contributing to higher laptop demand.
Online demand for culture and leisure services plunged 88.9 percent, and demand for travel and transport services tumbled 73.4 percent as people refrained from outside activities.
Online shopping took up 28.2 percent of the total retail sale in March, posting the biggest-ever monthly figure.
About two-thirds of online shopping was the mobile shopping through smartphones.
Mobile shopping reached 8.47 trillion won (6.9 billion U.S. dollars) in March, up 19.2 percent from a year earlier.
During the January-March quarter, the online shopping amounted to 36.84 trillion won (30.1 billion U.S. dollars), up 16.6 percent compared with the same quarter of last year.
The mobile shopping reached 24.79 trillion won (20.3 billion U.S. dollars) during the first quarter. Enditem
