Online shopping in South Korea increased 9.1 percent on-year in July from a year earlier, data showed Monday, as the demand for travel services continues to recover to pre-pandemic normalcy.

The value of online shopping transactions amounted to 18.9 trillion won (US$14.31 billion) in July, compared with 17.3 trillion won tallied a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

The growth was mostly led by travel and transportation services, which shot up 31.4 percent on-year to hit 2.1 trillion won, as more people traveled amid lifted virus-related restrictions.

Online sales of food and beverages advanced 15.7 percent to hit 2.49 trillion won as well, and those of e-coupons, which refer to online gift cards, increased 28.1 percent to 735.1 billion won.

Sales of food delivery services reached 2.35 trillion won, up 2.4 percent on-year, the data showed. That of clothes reached 1.5 trillion won, up 4.5 percent over the period.

Purchases made through smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices rose 6.9 percent on-year to 14 trillion won. They accounted for 74.5 percent of the total online shopping, down 1.5 percentage points on-year, it added.

Source: Yonhap News Agency