Online shopping transactions in South Korea reached 24.2118 trillion won (US$17.8 billion) in August, up 7.3% from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics. The total was below July's 25.1074 trillion won, although the year-on-year growth rate was unchanged. Food delivery spending rose 7.6% to 3.97 trillion won, while purchases of food products, including agricultural and fishery goods, increased 9.8% to 3.54 trillion won. Travel and transportation services grew 8.7%, with the ministry linking the increase to summer vacation travel and advance airline-ticket demand ahead of fuel surcharge increases. Communications-device transactions surged 44.9%, attributed to the release of Samsung Electronics' new Galaxy products, including the Galaxy Z Fold 8 series. Cultural and leisure services rose 5.7% year over year and 16.6% from July, which the ministry attributed to the film The Odyssey surpassing 10 million viewers. Apparel sales fell 4.4%, amid seasonal weakness and heatwaves that delayed purchases of autumn clothing. Mobile shopping transactions increased 5.8% to 18.9021 trillion won, but their share of total online sales declined 1.1 percentage points to 78.1%.