SEOUL, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's online shopping hit a record monthly high in October amid the continued COVID-19 pandemic, statistical office data showed Friday.

Shopping in cyberspace surged 21.7 percent from a year earlier to 16.9 trillion won (14.3 billion U.S. dollars) in October, according to Statistics Korea, marking the highest since data began to be compiled in 2001.

Robust demand remained for online purchases as people refrained from outside activity amid the lasting pandemic.

The online purchase of electronic products and mobile devices soared 36.5 percent to reach a fresh record high of 2.2 trillion won (1.9 billion U.S. dollars) due to demand for heaters in wintertime and newly launched smartphones.

Online demand for travel and transport services and the culture and leisure services spiked over 30 percent in October from a year earlier.

Mobile shopping through smartphones advanced 28.6 percent over the year to hit a new high of 12.23 trillion won (10.4 billion U.S. dollars) in October.

Mobile shopping accounted for 72.3 percent of the total online shopping in October, up 3.8 percentage points from a year ago. Enditem

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