Online Transactions Doubled

Transactions at online shopping malls are growing.

The National Statistical Office announced yesterday that the number of online shopping malls increased by 2.9 percent in February to 2,276 from January, and the total amount of online transactions rose 0.9 percent to 438.3 billion won, in its `February Online Transaction Statistics.`

The transaction amount surged by 84.9 percent (201.3 billion won) from a year earlier (237 billion won). The market size has been almost doubled for one year.

Among the online shopping malls, specialized shopping malls are 1929 (84.8 percent) and general shopping malls are 347 (15.2 percent).

1529 malls (67.2 percent) are doing both online and offline sales, and 747 malls (32.8 percent) are doing just online businesses.

The transactions involving general and health food products recorded the highest increase (27.2 percent) from a month earlier due to the special demands of the New Year season by the lunar calendar. Facing marriage season, the sales of garment, fashion, and related products rose 14.9 percent.

Joong-Hyun Park sanjuck@donga.com