E-Commerce in Malaysia Lacks Smart Consumers

I was reading an article by CKWong titled; Asia Pacific’s E-Commerce Statistics at a Glance, on the position of countries in terms of e-commerce spending and their habits. Here was one of the charts he showed.

The first thing I did was look for Malaysia. Where in the chart is Malaysia for e-commerce when we constantly drive sales like crazy in Malaysia?!

Then I realized, Malaysia have had (may still do) a high rate of fraudulent cases. However, it’s unfair to put all blame on these cases because I personally feel we, ourselves are to blame for the lack in e-commerce in Malaysia.

More Smart Consumer, Not Smarter Consumers

E-commerce in Malaysia is weak because we lack smart consumers in general – not smarter consumers. Imagine, it’s so easy for Malaysians to be duped into scratch-and-win scams? These are like child’s play to the professionals.

It does sound frustrating and disappointing to know Malaysia isn’t moving forward in an e-commerce. Especially when most consumers with the spending power still think if they typed their credit card numbers into the computer, it’s going to get stolen!

Older Does Not Mean Wiser Everytime

You may be a grandfather at 50 years but you didn’t have the computer when you were 5 or 12 (for me). So don’t think everyone in the world wants your credit card. Unless you’re a royalty, then you may want to be worried.

Malaysia Government and Organization Should Be Educating

Not scaring consumers into thinking it’s all that bad. I recently heard a radio ad reminding consumers to be vigilant when shopping online and only shop at trusted (namely branded) websites.

Well, thanks for scaring them off. And if the government and organizations were doing their homework, the Internet is a space for anonymity. A clear example is eBay.

Do you see everyone using their real names? No. Are there fraud cases? Yes. But they’re still one of the largest marketplaces. Because consumers understand the risk and trust they put in when shopping online.

Therefore, become a smart consumer if not, smarter.

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