Key takeaways from the map of e-commerce Malaysia

IN February, Malaysia’s minister of international trade and industry indicated that e-commerce has accounted for 6.1 percent of the country’s GDP in 2016.

When calculated, e-commerce contributed approximately US$19 billion (RM74.6 billion) to Malaysia’s GDP almost two years ago, and this figure is expected to see exponential growth in the following years.

To keep track of the fast-paced digital economy, iPrice Group released its latest figures in the Map of e-commerce.

The infographic analyzes Malaysia’s top 50 e-commerce sites based on web traffic, mobile app rankings (both iOS Store and Google Play), social media followers (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter), and number of employees (LinkedIn).

Lazada maintains its market lead on desktop

In Q1 2018, Lazada maintained its lead with an average online traffic of 48.4 million followed by Shopee in second with 13.7 million and 11street at 13.2 million.

In a span of four quarters, Lazada’s average monthly traffic grew 25.3 percent from 38.6 million to 48.4 million. Within the same period, we also saw a rise in the number of employees from 361 to 442, according to LinkedIn.

In Q1 2018, Lazada were prominent in the headlines as they saw an increased commitment from Alibaba.

The Chinese e-commerce giant pumped in an additional US$2 billion investment into Lazada, which now totals at US$4 billion from a US$2billion infusion over the past two years. This probably spurred Lazada’s growth in Q1 and is expected to maintain its lead for the rest of 2018.

[#eCommerce ] Alibaba To Accelerate South East Asia eCommerce By Investing Additional $2 Billion To Lazada – eSellerCafe https://t.co/e5RMjdWrt8 pic.twitter.com/6njmbSetmr

— Carlos Rachedi (@el_gordo_) April 16, 2018

Shopee overtakes 11street as the second most visited e-commerce site

For the first time, Shopee displaced 11street as the 2nd most visited e-commerce site with an average traffic of 13.7 million for Q1 2018.

In less than a year, Shopee experienced 302.9 percent growth, appearing at 5th place in the Map of e-commerce in Q2 2017 with 3.4 million average visitors and now 2nd place with 13.7 million average visitors as of Q1 2018.

Shopee’s rapid rise now means that the SEA (formerly known as Garena) owned e-commerce site is Lazada’s closest competitor on the desktop.

However, on the mobile platform, Shopee has been leading as the highest ranked shopping app since December 2017. Following them in mobile ranking is Lazada, 11street, and Zalora.

Each e-commerce mobile shopping app in the map of e-commerce was ranked based on its average rank recorded on both iOS Store and Google Play Store.

Q4 is the most vital period for online stores

As of Q1 2018, iPrice has ranked Malaysia’s top e-commerce websites for four consecutive quarters. When comparing online traffic, we noted that Q4 (October, November and December 2017) was the most important month for e-commerce.

In Q4, online traffic was the highest and this was no surprise as most major online sale periods took place in the last three months of 2017. Among the most significant sale periods were the MYCyberSale, 11.11 Sale (Singles Day), 12.12 Sale and the year-end sale.

E-commerce in Malaysia has provided more than 1,600 jobs

With LinkedIn, we found that Malaysia’s top 50 e-commerce has provided more than 1,600 jobs in the country. The actual figures might be significantly higher as not all currently in the e-commerce sector might have an updated or active LinkedIn account.

Malaysia’s top three e-commerce remains consistent

Looking specifically at Malaysian-based e-commerce, Lelong, Hermo, and GoShop consistently rank as Malaysia’s top three platforms for Q1 2018.

On average, Lelong has about 9.5 million visitors while GoShop has 1.4 million, and Hermo has 1.1 million visitors.

Lelong remains as the oldest e-commerce site in the list, as it was founded in 1998 by Kwok Wei and Richard Tan through Interbase Resources Sdn Bhd.

** This is an expert article by iPrice Group. To explore an interactive version of their map of e-commerce, visit their website.

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