Despite the local economy's struggle in investment and employment.... latest data showed solid domestic consumption.
In fact, South Korea's retail sales increased last year...thanks to the E-commerce industry.
Our Ko Roon-hee explains.
The latest report released by Korea's trade ministry shows that the nation's retail sales increased by 6-point-8 percent in 2018... up from the previous year's growth of 6-point-2 percent.
This data is based on the total sales of 26 major offline and online retailers.

The increase was mainly due to the rise in online sales... which were up 15-point-9 percent.
However, in-store retail sales only saw an increase of 1-point-9 percent.

The ministry attributed the hike in online sales to improvements in the delivery service.
More online retailers adopted overnight delivery services last year... to improve customer convenience.
Consumers were mainly interested in using this service when ordering fresh food.

Another reason is the development of technologies aimed at boosting the shopping experience.
Many online retailers have adopted AI-powered chatbots... to instantly provide information or even recommend products to consumers based on big data.
Other technologies include e-commerce firms' own simple payment systems... shortening the time needed to purchase items.

However, in the in-store retail sales category, sales at large supermarkets decreased by 2-point-3 percent due to the growth of the online market.
Sales at convenience stores and department stores increased by 8-point-5 percent and 1-point-3 percent respectively.
Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News.