Seoul, Nov 3 South Korea's retail sales continued to decrease for more than two years, led by weak demand across durable and non-durable goods, government data showed on Sunday.
The index for retail sales reached 100.7 on average for the third quarter of this year, down 1.9 percent from a year ago, according to the data from Statistics Korea.
The quarterly retail sales figures decreased consistently since the second quarter of 2022, marking the longest downturn since Statistics Korea began tracking the data in 1995, reports Yonhap news agency.
The sales index for durable goods has been on a steady decrease since the first quarter of 2022, with the exception of an uptick in the second quarter of last year.
In particular, the sales index for passenger cars fell 8.4 percent in the first quarter and 13.2 percent in the second quarter.
Sales of home appliances were also sluggish as their index has been on a decrease for 10 consecutive quarters.
Sales of semi-durable goods, including clothing, also fell, with the category's sales index decreasing by 4.7 percent in the third quarter, marking six consecutive quarters of decline.
Non-durable goods, such as food and beverages, saw sales drop for a record nine quarters in a row, reflecting an ongoing slump in domestic consumption.
Meanwhile, online shopping sales in South Korea grew 2 per cent on-year in September, driven by increased demand for food delivery services and mobile devices, the statistics agency said.
According to data from Statistics Korea, the combined value of online shopping transactions came to 19.56 trillion won ($14.21 billion) in September, compared with 19.18 trillion won tallied a year earlier.
Spending on food and beverages surged 10.5 per cent on-year to reach 3.02 trillion won, and sales for food delivery services also advanced 17.3 per cent to 2.51 trillion won.
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