S. Korea's Q3 e-commerce sales slip 2.3 pct

SEOUL, Nov. 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's e-commerce sales fell 2.3 percent
on-year in the third quarter of this year mainly due to a drop in
business-to-government (B2G) transactions, a government report showed Thursday.
Online transactions amounted to 163.02 trillion won (US$141.45 billion) in the
July-September period, compared with 167.78 trillion won a year earlier,
according to the report by the Statistics Korea. From a quarter earlier,
transactions declined 4.3 percent.
The statistical office said the decline marks the first time that sales volume
has contracted since the government started compiling related figures in 2001.
"B2G transactions plunged 17.4 percent on year to 9.42 trillion won as most
state-led buying took place in the first half," the release said.
Seoul had "front-loaded" spending up till June to help stabilize the local
economy that was hard hit by the global financial crisis.
The statistical office added business-to-business electronic transactions dipped
1.6 percent annually to 148.51 trillion won as the sluggish economy affected
investment and production.
Total on-line transactions involving business-to-consumers and between consumers
rose 6.9 percent and 30.0 percent, respectively, compared to the previous year.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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