A recent survey conducted online by couponing site CouponBelanja.com showed an increased trust among Malaysians to shop online. Lazada, Groupon, and Zalora are the top three online stores where Malaysians love shopping. It is the young adults between 25 to 40 years of age who buy from online retail stores.
Our top findings in the survey were
1. Lazada is the favorite online store among Malaysian shoppers. Over 34% of the shoppers surveyed listed it as their go to destination.
With an Alexa rating of 11 and visits of 10.4 M monthly, Lazada still remains the #1 choice to shop in Malaysia.
2. Top 2 categories being shopped by our survey participants were Apparel – 25% and Appliances – 26%
3. We found 77% of the online shoppers to be Female
This matches with the shopping patterns of women around the world.
Other findings were that consumers are increasingly aware and use smartphones to shop. Discounts and coupons drive online sales in Malaysia. Sale events during festivals attract major spending among consumers. A detailed report is shared below.
Detailed Survey Results
Trust on online shopping has improved
A whopping 85% trust on prices marked on products during online shopping. Only 15% doubt its accuracy. This supports the fact that the ecommerce market in Malaysia has doubled in the last four years and now stands at more than US$2 billion. There is an estimated 7 million online shoppers in Malaysia.
Appliances and Apparels are the top buys during festivals
The survey found that shoppers opt to buy Home Appliances during festive season sales. Clothes and accessories are also a popular choice for shopping. 14% look for travel and hunts for exclusive holiday packages. Cars and Jewellery are also items Malaysians will look for buying.
Coupons are the driving force
38% think that coupons are an absolute necessity to shop online. 21% of respondent said they would check to see offers before making a buying decision. Only a meager 4% do not think deals are important to go for online shopping.
Coupon Sites are the places to search
When people search for deals and discounts, they visit coupon sites. 26% of the Malaysians would search for coupon codes before checking out of the store. 18% search on search engines like Google to get latest offers. Social media is fast catching up with people following brands on Twitter and Facebook. Mobile is gaining huge momentum. 11% of Malaysians also look for coupons in the individual ecommerce sites. Only about 8% of the Malaysians do check Newspapers for deals.
Lazada Malaysia is the favorite
Malaysians love shopping at Lazada. 89% think that Lazada has a wide range of products and have regular deals and offers that make buying at Lazada quite attractive. 51% prefer shopping in Groupon Malaysia. Zalora, the fashion store, is the third favorite option for shopping, and 46% of respondents voted for it. Ensogo, Rakuten, Shopeemalaysia and Luxola come next. When it is travel, 21% of the Malaysians think of Expedia. Foodpanda is the choice among food lovers.
Young adults in Malaysia are shopping
60% of the respondents were between 26 and 40 years of age. People above 41 years of age have also adapted well to the internet and are moving from conventional brick and mortar stores to shopping online. They contribute to 23% of the shoppers online.
Malaysian women love to shop
77% who showed interest in online shopping and look coupons for shopping are women.
What does this mean?
Global online shopping sites like Groupon, eBay, Amazon, Rakuten, Lazada, Alibaba are dominating Malaysian markets and shoppers shop from all around the world. So local and national ecommerce stores need to compete with global players to continue having a market share.
Facebook, Twitter and other social media have a huge influence on Malaysian and online players have to increase their participation in social networking. Smartphones usage is significant in Malaysia, and online shopping should be a pleasant experience for users.