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.

Posted by dannyfoo on December 30, 2009 | Filed Under News | View Comments |

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View Comments to “E-Commerce in Malaysia Lacks Smart Consumers”

  1. Response #1 by E-Commerce in Malaysia Lacks Smart Consumers | Websites Made Simple « Percuma Untuk Anda on January 1st, 2010

    [...] more from the original source: E-Commerce in Malaysia Lacks Smart Consumers | Websites Made Simple Comments [...]

  2. Response #2 by CK Wong on January 2nd, 2010

    Hey Danny thanks for the mention.

    Yes, Malaysians should be careful but not paranoid. Perhaps, we should get used to the excitement of online shopping (bargains, rare products, element of surprise, looking forward for the order to arrive etc.) rather than being overly cautious.

    In another aspect, we also need big players to educate the public. Educate in one way by building hugely popular e-commerce platform or ecosystem. AirAsia has done a great job to encourage people paying online, but we need more – be it like Amazon, Rakuten, Taobao etc.

  3. Response #3 by dannyfoo on January 2nd, 2010

    CKWong:
    Welcome to WMS. :) Education is definitely very important and I do agree fully about building a healthier e-commerce system. But, not a single hugely popular e-commerce platform.

    Reason is it may create a monopoly. Imagine if the organization with a government backed platform came out, everyone is to most likely purchase from there because it’s government backed. No matter how crappy their website is – which is another problem in Malaysia.

    So I still think education is most important. Though we could wait for Gen-Ys to replace the old and then, the e-commerce scene may boom.

  4. Response #4 by Jerry Lee on January 3rd, 2010

    yes. indeed education plays the most important role in online consuming as well as businesses.

    I believe e-commerce is not well established as we compared to other countries yet, but i think, however, the numbers of online purchasing are increasing tremendously in malaysia, based on the info posted by TM. Which i think our government also encouraging online shopping, thus, a few new acts and rules will be implemented soon.

    Good article and is worth to share with ppl ! Stumbled! :)

  5. Response #5 by dannyfoo on January 5th, 2010

    Thanks for the encouragement, Jerry. I’m one of the few looking forward to the boom of e-commerce in Malaysia. I want to hear my Mum tell me to order stuff online and not say, pop by Giant to get something. ;)

  6. Response #6 by Louise on January 20th, 2010

    An excellent article, a similar suprise to most people that have been to KL and hence would think that Malaysia would have made the grade..

  7. Response #7 by dannyfoo on January 21st, 2010

    LOL! I sure would like to prove this people wrong, Louise. ;)


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