South Korea’s online shopping rate ranks world’s second amid COVID-19

South Korea’s online shopping rate was listed as second highest in the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a research firm said Monday.

According to dunnhumby, a global customer data science company , Korea ranked second after China in the survey studying online consumption patterns, conducted with 7,677 consumers in 19 countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 19 countries include five in Asia -- South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand; 10 from Europe -- Spain, Italy, France, the UK, Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic; and four from the Americas -- the US, Canada, Mexico and Brazil.

In the survey, the online shopping rate for Korea was posted at 54 percent, trailing China’s 61 percent. Korean consumers said they shop an average of 5.1 times per week to buy groceries and daily necessities.

Thailand followed in the list with 46 percent, while Brazil came next with 42 percent, and Malaysia, 39 percent. The average rate of online shopping among the 19 countries was 29 percent, while the number of times people shop in a week was an average of 4.8, the agency said.

According to dunnhumby, the pandemic has changed the shopping culture of the 19 countries. In the survey, 73 percent of respondents across the 19 countries said they visit shops less than before the virus outbreak.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)