Anchor: The number of South Korean shoppers using Chinese online shopping sites including AliExpress and Temu is surging at an alarming rate. AliExpress last month outperformed South Korean online marketplace 11Street to become the second most used online shopping store favored by South Koreans. Our Bae Joo-yon has more. 

Report: According to mobile app analytics service Wiseapp Retail Goods earlier this month, nearly eight-point-two million South Koreans used the AliExpress app as of February 2023. That’s up a whopping 130 percent compared to February 2022 and a record high since the company began compiling relevant data since 2016. 

Last month, AliExpress, held by the Alibaba Group, came second among the list of most-used online stores by South Korean shoppers, outpacing 11Street. 

Temu, another Chinese online retailer, placed fourth since launching its services in South Korea last July, overtaking South Korean shopping sites Gmarket, TMON and Wemakeprice. 

Amid such surging figures, insiders say Alibaba Group recently submitted to the South Korean government a business plan to set up a 180-thousand square meter-big logistics center in the Seoul metro area within the year with an investment of 200 million dollars. 

Such a base would arm the Chinese retailer with not only the competitiveness but also faster delivery time, and help its push to emerge as a greater threat to domestic e-commerce firms.

Industry insiders say that in pursuing such a plan, AliExpress likely took into account a global investment strategy, looking beyond that of supply and demand in South Korea. 

The Chinese firm was found to have been using Incheon International Airport as its global shipment hub since last year. 

According to data released by the Incheon International Airport Corporation, the airport handled 98-thousand-560 tons in sea and air freight last year, up more than 43 percent compared to the previous year, the highest posted since the airport opened. Nearly 97 percent of such cargo departed from China. 

Under the sea and air freight logistics system, products, mostly from China, are transported by sea to ports along South Korea’s west coast, including Incheon Port, and then are delivered by planes across the world from Incheon International Airport. 

Some insiders believe that AliExpress may be seeking to play the role of a platform for exporting K-food products by combining a logistics edge and global sales networks. 

Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.