SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Online shopping in South Korea logged a double-digit gain in August on surging demand for food delivery through smartphone apps in the summertime, a government report showed Thursday.
Shopping in the cyberspace reached 9.06 trillion won (8.02 billion U.S. dollars) in August, up 19.6 percent from the same month of last year, according to Statistics Korea.
The double-digit growth came as the sweltering heatwave in the summertime encouraged consumers to use food delivery services through smartphone apps, which jumped 82.5 percent in the month.
Online purchase of electronic devices and home appliances advanced 29.1 percent, while services for transport and travel reservations expanded 15.6 percent in August.
Among the total, mobile shopping through smartphones grew 29.7 percent over the year to 5.72 trillion won (5.06 billion U.S. dollars) in August.
It took up 63.2 percent of the total online shopping in August, up 5.0 percentage points from a year ago.
