South Korea invests $267m in digital retail growth

This aims to help local online retailers to adopt technologies such as drones.

South Korea is investing $267m (KRW300b) over the next three years to speed up the growth of the digital retail segment, Yonhap reported.

Under the plan, the country will not only pave the way for online retailers to tap deeper into the overseas markets but help them adopt technologies such as drones, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

About 4,000 logistics robots will be distributed by 2023 for full-fledged unmanned delivery services. South Korea plans to allow delivery robots to operate on sidewalks. It will also carry out some 1,000 test runs for drone delivery service by 2022.

At the same time, the government plans to establish a standardized data base of around 3 million products by 2022, which can provide a wide array of information on the goods to consumers, including on allergies.

Other goals include fostering some 1,200 experts through 2026 by opening new graduate and learning courses to meet the growing demand for online retail services.