[THE INVESTOR] The total value of online shopping in Korea reached a record high in October, government data showed on Dec. 5.

Total online transactions reached 10.04 trillion won (US$9.03 billion) in October, up 36 percent, or 2.65 trillion won, from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

The reading marked the highest amount since January 2001 when the statistics office started collecting data on online shopping.

Demand for clothes jumped 38.5 percent on-year to 1.33 trillion won in October and online sales of food delivery services surged 49.8 percent to 895.7 billion won, while sales of electronic goods rose 38.2 percent to 996.5 billion won.

Purchases made through smartphones, tablets and other mobile gadgets soared 43.8 percent on-year to a record 6.24 trillion won, accounting for 62.1 percent of all online sales in October.
  
By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)