Service sector sales up 7.4pc in 2017

SEJONG: South Korea's service sales rose 7.4 percent in 2017 from a year earlier due to robust sales in electronic goods and a boom in the real estate market, government data showed Friday.

The combined sales of local service firms totaled 2,041 trillion won (US$1.81 trillion) last year, compared with 1,900 trillion won in 2016, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

The data showed that 11.71 million people worked in the service sector in 2017, up 2.5 percent from 11.43 million in 2016.

The statistics agency said sales of franchises reached 55.1 trillion won in 2017, up 14.3 percent or 6.9 trillion won from a year earlier.

The number of stores of the three major franchises -- convenient stores, Korean food restaurants and chicken joints -- came to 93,000 in 2017, accounting for 51.3 percent of the total across the country.

Other franchises include pizza, hamburger, coffee and "kimbap," a seaweed-wrapped rice roll filled with a variety of ingredients, shops. Data from 2015 compiled by Statistics Korea showed that franchisees ran their stores for 52 months on average before closing them.

By sector, coffee franchises stayed open just 27 months on average, while coffee shops, which are run by non-franchisees, lasted 43.3 months due mainly to the fierce competition among coffee shops.