More Savvy Shoppers Turns to Overseas Retailers

Koreans are spending an average of W470,000 per year on purchases from overseas online retailers and their favorite buys are clothes and footwear, a survey shows (US$1=W1,103).

In the survey of 5,000 Internet users over 12 by the Korea Internet and Security Agency, some 41.6 percent of respondents said they purchased goods from overseas online retailers more than once.

The largest proportion or 50.8 percent said they bought chiefly clothes, footwear and sporting goods. Next came health supplements and food (35.1 percent), cosmetics (23.7 percent), and handbags and accessories (21.5 percent).

Respondents were able to give multiple answers.

The U.S. topped the list as the favorite country where people bought goods with 88.3 percent, followed by Japan (18.4 percent) and China.

Most purchases are made because of the better variety of available goods (76.8 percent) and cheaper prices than in Korea (76.6 percent).

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