Xinhua, Seoul :
Online shopping transactions through mobile phones in South Korea hit a monthly record high of 2.7 trillion won (2.4 billion U.S. dollars) in May, reflecting a growing smartphone usage for trading in online shopping malls, a government report showed on Monday.
The mobile shopping transactions in May were up 41.7 percent from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea. It was the largest since the statistical agency began to compile the data in January 2013.
Mobile shopping accounted for 52.1 percent of the total online shopping trading in May, topping the previous high of 51.4 percent tallied in March.
Consumers increased purchasing software, books, music, video and music instrument through mobile phones, which more than doubled in May from a year ago.
The overall online shopping transactions reached 5.18 trillion won in May, up 22.3 percent from a year earlier.
The figures declined from 5.17 trillion won in March to 4.96 trillion won in April, before rebounding above 5 trillion won in May.
Online purchase of bags, cosmetics and books jumped almost 50 percent, leading the May growth.
