South Korea retail sales surge

South Korea retail sales rose to their highest level in four months in September, as Koreans put the Mers scare behind them and ventured back into stores.

Data from Statistics Korea show retail sales totalled 31.13 trillion won (US$27.32 billion) during the month, a 4.1 per cent increase on September 2014.

Department store and discount store sales started to slide in June when the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) crisis peaked. From spending of 31.43 trillion won in May, sales fell to 29.35 trillion won in June and 29.45 trillion won in August.

Rising sales of food, cosmetics and apparel led the rebound in September. Food and beverage sales rose 14.5 per cent, cosmetic sales rose 3.9 per cent and clothing by 0.6 per cent year on year.

Furniture sales, too, rebounded – up 3.7 per cent.

Spending at convenience stores soared 32.8 per cent, at discount department stores by 10.4 per cent and in department stores by 5.7 per cent.

Online shopping spending rose by 18.3 per cent to 4.32 trillion won, accounting for 13.9 per cent of the nation’s total retail spend.