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In 2025, retail sales in South Korea grew by 6.8 percent compared to the previous year. Online retail sales recorded about 11.8 percent of the growth that year, while offline retail sales also continued to record only small growth rates during the last years.

Retail channels

Online retail spearheads the retail market and due to COVID-19 the popularity of online retailing was accelerated, leading to a major increase in online retail sales in 2020. At the same time, offline retail suffered from social distancing measures and afterward, the want for convenience. However, in  retail sales showed growth in both categories, likely due to pent-up demand. Department stores are one offline retail channel that still flourish and try to bring innovation to the offline retail market in the shape of pop-up stores.

Most popular items

The product group with the highest share in retail sales was food and groceries, making up for over a third of sales. As with other consumer goods, shopping for groceries online has become a trend. Other popular product groups were services and living or luxury goods. For example, the expenses for home appliances online have grown.