The Trade and Investment Research Center under the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) on March 6 released a report on e-commerce exports in 2021 saying such shipments reached USD 858 million, up 109.9% from USD 409 million in 2020.
The number of online export cases also grew 64.5% from 4.56 million to 7.49 million.
The report said export volume last year saw year-on-year growth of 25.7% to USD 644.43 billion, thus the growth of e-commerce shipments far exceeded that of exports overall.
E-commerce exports jumped 111.5% from USD 193 million in 2019 to USD 409 million in 2020. Volume doubled for the second straight year last year as well.
KOTRA attributed such explosive growth to the acceleration of consumption trends in the "online age."
Korean companies promptly responded to contactless consumption trends and swiftly launched their brands not only on domestic online shopping sites but also on global platforms such as Amazon, it added.
By item, cosmetics accounted for the most e-commerce exports with 31.1% for the third consecutive year while achieving growth of 84.9% from 2020. Music albums and videos (8.2%) were second in market share, followed by clothing (4.7%).
By market, Japan took in the most e-commerce exports by accounting for 31.8% or USD 272.63 million, up 105.2% from 2020, and the U.S. was next with a phenomenal 269.3% jump to USD 260.75 million. China, which led this list in 2019, fell to third with USD 150.15 million.
KOTRA said, "Exports increased thanks to countries with high recognition of Korea due to the popularity of Hallyu like K-content and K-pop and the markets' well-developed online shopping malls."
