Mobile shopping in South Korea surged to a record high during Q1, The Korea Herald reported citing data from local research outfits.

The newspaper stated a report by economic experts at Digieco, described as “affiliated with KT” based on data by research company DMC Media showed the  value of mobile transactions rose 23.1 per cent year-on-year to KRW24.8 trillion ($20.4 billion), accounting for 67.3 per cent of total online purchases compared with 63.7 in Q1 2019.

A lockdown initiated to contain the spread of Covid-19 (coronavirus) appears to have played a part in the growth.

Food delivery services dominated the list of purchases. The value of online food-delivery transactions jumped to KRW3.5 trillion from KRW2 trillion

Overall online shopping increased 16.6 per cent to KRW36.8 trillion.