Malaysia is famous for its fantasy shopping seasons, as it is described as a continuous shopping carnival throughout the year, attracting locals and tourists alike, which strengthened the reputation of the capital Kuala Lumpur as one of the shopping centers in Southeast Asia.
Despite this, a new world of shopping has caught the attention of Malaysians and caught their attention. E-commerce has grown significantly across the world in recent years, and Malaysia is no exception.
Malaysians have opened their e-wallets, and have become the preferred method of shopping for more than two-thirds of the population, bypassing it to represent their new lifestyle.
The e-commerce index of the London Statistics Company (Fitch Solutions) revealed that Malaysia is outperforming its neighbors in ASEAN countries in terms of the growth of e-commerce sales.
The volume of this trade is expected to increase from $ 8.3 billion in 2019 to 12.9 billion in 2022. According to the company's analysis, the turnout for e-shopping in Malaysia will rise 5% every year.
Shopping in the Corona era
Corona pandemic came to raise the volume of e-commerce to nearly a third compared to the same months last year, despite the decrease in the total value of wholesale and retail trade in the Malaysian market by 36%.
Jan Young (an online marketer) attributes this to the fact that the closing period and people staying in their homes forced them to buy their needs online.
In his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, he added that staying longer periods on the Internet increases their buying interest. At a time when shop owners were in recession as a result of the closing of their stores, the online shopping market flourished.
Why e-shopping?
The Malaysians initially bought online to encourage the state and businessmen and support them in this sector as part of the economic and technological development plans.
The offers - which are offered by Malaysian e-sales companies - are attractive to them. They are always looking for appropriate discounts and prices, and shipping companies offer preferential prices, so that the price of the commodity remains lower than what is on the market.
Malaysians prefer online shopping because this saves time on their busy schedules, and the ease of comparing prices across platforms and even countries gives the buyer a variety of items to choose in a short time.
Some also resort to online shopping as a kind of pleasure and exploration of new goods, especially those associated with fashion, as well as types and models not available in the local market.
New fashion developers
Malaysians of all walks of life attach great importance to the holidays and occasions that abound in the country due to ethnic diversity in them, and they care a lot about preparing for these occasions and buying gifts, and they prefer electronic shopping because some of the goods are of higher quality, options are more, and there are commodity models that come online faster than they actually reach the markets These attract fashion chasers for new goods.
On the other hand, the owners of small projects for young families and young women prefer selling online, because it is an inexpensive way and the merchandise can be promoted and presented to a wider segment of people.
Purchase influences and habits
Malaysians rely on their purchase to value the commodity through other buyers, as 70% of buyers judge the commodity through valuations by other customers, and it is a double-edged sword for sellers. If the commodity is undervalued, the rest will avoid buying it.
According to studies by online selling sites, they have found that Malaysians are socially affected by online shopping, as many of them appear convinced of buying a commodity that a family member or friend previously bought.
Studies have found that Malaysia is the fourth country in the world to be ranked by purchasing via social media sites such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and others.
Influencers also play an important role in Malaysian purchasing options, and some companies make direct offers to shoppers from these influencers to highlight the specifications of the goods in order to attract a larger number of buyers.
Studies have found that Malaysians only make a purchasing decision after a thorough study of the goods, and they actively seek information from product reviews, compare products with their alternatives and follow up on product launch updates.
The most overseas destinations that Malaysians prefer to buy are from China, South Korea, Singapore, Japan and the United States.
Men also shop online
Surprisingly, men in Malaysia shop online like women, based on a study of e-commerce habits conducted by graduate students.