Sales of home office items increase

As more and more people are working from home amid a resurgence of COVID-19, work from home items are increasing in popularity. Various items that can elevate the work from home experience such as stationaries, electronics, posture correctors and coffee are selling well.

The trend is most prominent with electronics. According to Gmarket, the sales of cameras and microphones for computers went up by 554 percent and 90 percent year-on-year, respectively, between July 24 to August 24. The South Korean e-commerce company attributed the sharp rise in sales to an increasing number of people working from home. More people are buying computer monitors and laptop accessories as well. SSG.com said the sales of laptops and computer monitors rose by 285.7 percent and 106.7 percent, respectively, compared to last year for three weeks between Aug. 4 to August 25.

Stationary is also enjoying increasing sales as people are trying to create the same working environment they had in the office. Remote working usually involves digital documents written on computers. However, people are buying office supplies to create a home office.

SSG.com said it sold 45.7 percent more stationary from August 4 to Tuesday. In particular, there has been a significant jump in the sales of common office supplies such as boards and files. Boards and files saw sales increases of 27.6 percent and 24.4 percent, respectively. Gmarket also sold 14 percent more stationary and office supplies this month.

Products that help relieve stress from working from home are also popular. A great example is posture correctors. In the month to August 25, SSG.com sold 176.3 percent more posture correctors compared to last year. These products include memory foam seat cushions, chairs that support the back and hips and posture correction braces.


eunji@donga.com