The Expansion of Korean Mobile Commerce
South Korea’s e-commerce began with PC-based shopping malls in the late 1990s. As smartphone adoption accelerated in 2009, the trading environment rapidly shifted to mobile. According to Statistics Korea data, mobile shopping transaction volume surpassed PC for the first time in 2015, and subsequently its share expanded year after year, accounting for over 70% of total online transactions by the mid-2020s. This transition was accelerated by South Korea’s world-leading smartphone penetration rate and densely constructed high-speed mobile networks nationwide.
The Formation of Short-Form Commerce and Bundle Purchasing Culture
Short-form video platforms first grew in China and the US in the late 2010s, and TikTok and Instagram Reels rapidly penetrated South Korea around 2019. As platforms added in-video product link features, the gap between viewing and purchase narrowed. This format compressed the structure of existing home shopping and live commerce into mobile vertical video, resonating with Korean consumers’ long-established habit of “broadcast-linked purchasing.”
Bundle selling can trace its origins to the “bonus culture” of traditional Korean markets. The practice of adding extra products to a set price has long continued in offline commerce. In the online environment, this method was reorganized into bundled product configurations, and as the high-inflation period continued through the 2020s, as consumers’ price sensitivity heightened, demand for bundle configurations became prominent again. A method of evaluating the combined value of a configuration rather than simple discounts became the standard for purchase decisions.
June corresponds to the first-half settlement season in Korea’s retail calendar. As a result of major platforms intensively scheduling promotional campaigns aligned with this period, June has begun to be perceived by consumers as an appropriate time to execute comparison shopping and bundle consumption.
This content is excerpted from 2026 June Marketing Calendar — Complete Roundup of June and July Season Issues. Check the marketing calendar that soulpapamarketing organizes monthly.
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Original Korean article: https://soulpapa.co.kr/2026/06/01/calendar-2026-06-6%ec%9b%94-%ec%83%81%ec%8b%9c-%eb%aa%a8%eb%b0%94%ec%9d%bc%ec%88%8f%ed%8f%bc-%ec%bb%a4%eb%a8%b8%ec%8a%a4-amp-%eb%b2%88%eb%93%a4-%ec%a0%84%eb%9e%b5/
