5 key takeaways from the map of e-commerce Malaysia | Source: Shutterstock
The map of e-commerce in Malaysia
THE e-commerce market in Malaysia is growing at a rapid rate, as both government and private sectors continue to heavily invest in the digital industry.
With all the excitement and innovations going on in the market today, it is vital to sit back and take a look at the current trends. Southeast Asia’s shopping aggregator iPrice Group, have created a “Map of e-Commerce” in which they have outlined the key players and revealed key insights for Malaysians.
Lazada extends its lead in Malaysia
Southeast Asian e-commerce firm Lazada Group, is really strengthening its ties in Malaysia this year. Upon comparing online traffic between Q3 and Q4 in 2017, it was found that there was an increase of 13.8 million average monthly visitors for Lazada.
This truly widens the gap between the Alibaba-backed company and its competitors 11street (who witnessed an increase of 5.9 million average visitors) and Shopee (an increase of 5.3 million average visitors) when comparing to the previous quarter.
While Lazada’s competitors are left trying to figure out the answer to the company’s dominance, Alibaba is further facilitating their aggressive expansion in the region.
This week, the Chinese e-commerce juggernaut has said it will invest an extra US$2 billion in Lazada, and have tapped Lucy Peng, a founder of Alibaba, to run the business.
“The investment underscores Alibaba’s confidence in the future success of Lazada’s business and the growth prospect of the Southeast Asian market, a region that is a key part of Alibaba’s global growth strategy,” Alibaba said in a statement.
Shopee overtakes Lazada as the top mobile shopping app
Despite Lazada winning the race in terms of website traffic, rival Shopee, has overtaken Lazada in app rankings, rating at the best app on both Google Play and iOS App stores.
This is rather a significant finding considering that Southeast Asia is a mobile-first region where consumers prefer to search for and compare products using mobile devices. A recent study on the State of e-commerce in Southeast Asia found that 74 percent of online traffic in Malaysia was sourced from mobile devices.
Since its development in 2015, Shopee has been a mobile-first marketplace in SEA | Source: Shutterstock
Following the company in the mobile shopping app rankings were Lazada, 11street, Zalora, and Lelong. Among the metrics that the e-commerce companies were ranked included the highest number of downloads, least number of uninstalls, engagement, revenue, and consumer ratings.
An increase in online traffic for Malaysia’s top 50 e-commerce due to year-end promotions
It seems that the end-of-year sales and promotions that took place in the last few months of 2017 saw a significant amount of shoppers flock to e-commerce sites in Malaysia.
The top e-commerce sites in Malaysia experienced an overall 30 percent increase in online traffic after this promotion period. The most popular sale period among Malaysian consumers was the 12.12 sale, followed by Singles Day.
The sales and promotions of late last year led many consumers to flock to e-commerce sites | Source: Shutterstock.com
The 5 top e-commerce players in Malaysia has created over 1000 jobs
The key players in Malaysia’s e-commerce market (Lazada, 11street, Shopee, Lelong, and Zalora) have provided over 1000 jobs in Malaysia.
This number could be significantly higher as this data was derived from those employees found active on LinkedIn. But the figure is still significant considering the Malaysian government expects its digital economy employment to surpass global average by 2025.
Local Malaysian fashion brands continue to rule the Insta-game
When it comes to Instagram presence, Malaysia’s local fashion brands were found to be more popular on the image-sharing site when compared to regional and international players such as Zalora, Sephora, and Lazada.
The top e-commerce players on Instagram, according to iPrice Group, is Bella Ammara, Naelofar Hijab, and Fashion Valet.
Malaysia’s fashion e-commerce is among the most active on Instagram, with brands publishing engaging and compelling content on a regular basis. They are also proficient in partnering with both celebrities and micro-influencers in order to increase attraction.