[THE INVESTOR] Korea ranked No. 1 in terms of e-commence for grocery shopping, outpacing major developed countries, an industry report showed on June 27.

According to the report by industry tracker, Kantar Worldpanel, the percentage of fast-moving consumer goods shopping via online and mobile channels out of all purchases in Korea between June 2015 and June 2016 came to 16.6 percent.

Japan came in second with 7.2 percent, followed by the United Kingdom with 6.9 percent, France with 5.3 percent and Taiwan with 5.2 percent, the report showed.

For the US, the share of e-commerce represented just 1.4 percent, Kantar Worldpanel said. However, with initiatives from Amazon and more established grocery retailers, the region is likely to catch up quickly.

Industry watchers attributed the broadened digital shopping experience by Koreans to an aggressive expansion of online-based fresh food delivery services by key e-commerce companies and related startups.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)