E-Shopping in Korea and Asia

eBay, the world's dominant online auction site, operated in 17 countries worldwide until early 2004, though has recently been making pronounced moves to extend that number in Asia. Online shopping may be seen as very recent and very Western phenomenon, but something of a population explosion is taking place amongst East Asian web users. Online auctioneers are increasingly looking in this direction for new opportunities.

South Korea, for example, has the highest broadband penetration rate in the world - with 11 million users out of a total population of 48 million. During 2004 Ebay raised its stake in South Korea by paying $325m (£80.3m) to it's Korean affiliate Internet Auction, increasing its holding from 62% to 86%, and made clear its plans to buy the remaining shares. Internet Auction has 9.9 million subscribers - more than a fifth of the country's population - and eBay's move is no doubt one of many campaigns on the part of Western internet giants that remain to be seen in Asia. Internet Auction is expected to report net profits of 25.2bn Won for the current financial year - up over a third on the previous year. This is not only a sign of the growing importance of Asia to e-commerce, but the simultaneously increasing significance of Korea in the region.

Adapted from BBC Business News, September 2004.

chinese translation | japanese translation | korean translation