Online 16%, offline 8%↑… Department stores and convenience stores increase, hypermarkets decrease
Despite the continued outbreak of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) last year, both online and offline sales showed growth due to consumer sentiment and the spread of non-face-to-face consumption culture.
According to the ‘2021 sales trends of major retailers’ announced by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 27th, offline sales increased by 7.5% and online sales increased by 15.7%, respectively.
As a result, total sales increased by 11.3%.
Compared to 2020, offline sales turned from a decrease of 3.6% to an increase, and the growth rate of online sales slightly slowed (-2.7 percentage points).
Overall sales growth increased by 5.8 percentage points.
An official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy explained that “offline sales increased mainly in department stores due to the base effect on the impact of COVID-19 and the expression of latent consumer sentiment.”
He added, “Online and non-face-to-face consumption culture continued to spread, such as online shopping and food delivery orders, and online sales maintained double-digit growth.”
When looking at offline sales by business type, department stores (24.1%) grew significantly, and convenience stores (6.8%) also increased.
On the other hand, sales of large marts (-2.3%) and SSM (corporate supermarkets/-9.1%) decreased.
Online sales grew sharply in the food group (23.8%) and services and other (37.9%).
This is due to the widespread use of online shopping and the proliferation of food delivery and e-coupon use.
In addition, sales of most product groups such as cosmetics (15.3%), home appliances/electronics (13.6%), and household/furniture (8.7%) increased, but sales of children/infant (-3.6%) product groups decreased.
When looking at the total on-line and offline sales by product group, the proportion of sales from famous brands (1.0 percentage points) increased due to overseas travel restrictions, and the proportion of services and other items (1.0 percentage points) increased due to the spread of online food delivery.
Conversely, the proportion of sales of fashion and miscellaneous goods (-0.3 percentage points), children’s sports (-0.2 percentage points), food (-0.8 percentage points), and living and household items (-0.6 percentage points) fell slightly.
In the month of December last year, total retail sales increased by 11.6% compared to the same period last year.
Offline sales increased by 10.3% and online sales increased by 12.8%, respectively.
As for offline sales, sales at large marts (-6.1%) and SSM (-12.2%) declined due to the decrease in the number of stores, but sales at department stores (36.5%) and convenience stores (8.9%) increased.
The number of hypermarket stores decreased from 396 to 384, and SSM decreased from 1,136 to 1,103, respectively.
Online sales surpassed offline (7.4 trillion won) for two months in a row, with the market size reaching 7.1 trillion won due to the normalization of non-face-to-face consumption and various year-end discount events.
/yunhap news
