eBay Korea, the operator of Korea’s largest online websites Gmarket and Auction, received the Mobile Shopping Award at the 2014 Asia Telecommunication Sales Vision in Seoul last month in recognition of its efforts to implement user-friendly services.

The annual telecommunication sales event is one of the largest of its kind in Asia, hosted in turn by Korea, China and Japan. More than 700 participants attended this year’s event.

“Gmarket and Auction are leaders in the Korean mobile shopping industry. As pioneers in online and mobile commerce, eBay Korea will strive to keep up with the trends and keep our customers satisfied through continuous research and development,” said an eBay Korea official. 

In particular, eBay Korea was noted for its innovative mobile shopping services, namely SmilePay and G9.

SmilePay was adopted by both Gmarket and Auction to allow for more convenient payment services, while Gmarket’s G9 app introduced a new menu to make it easier for customers to navigate the website, along with e-coupon services and flash sales such as half-price and weekend deals.

Thanks to these innovative new features, sales at Gmarket and Auction more than quadrupled in the first half of this year, compared to the same period in 2013, eBay Korea said.

According to Statistics Korea, up to 2.8 trillion won ($2.7 billion) worth of mobile sales were made during the first half of this year to represent a 156.6 percent rise since 2013.

A survey conducted by the Korea Consumer Agency showed that 80 percent of mobile shopping users preferred mobile shopping over any other shopping channel such as online shopping, home shopping or offline shopping. More than half said they preferred mobile shopping for the low prices.

By Kim Da-sol (dasolkim@heraldcorp.com)