Sales at department stores in South Korea fell by 2.1 percent last year from 2016 partly due to the rising popularity of online shopping, data from Statistics Korea showed Friday.

Local department stores posted combined sales of 29.24 trillion won ($26.7 billion) last year.

Overall retail sales, meanwhile, increased 4.4 percent to 402.91 trillion won. Department store sales accounted for 7.3 percent of the total, with the rate continuing to decline from 8.4 percent in 2013.

Shopping done online or on mobile devices amounted to 78.22 trillion won, up 19.2 percent from 2016, according to a separate set of Statistics Korea data. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)