M'sia's Online Shopping Soars As User Confidence Increases

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 29 (Bernama) -- Online shopping in Malaysia is on the verge of a turning point as the country's eCommerce scene undergoes a dramatic change, backed by increased user confidence, said iPay88 Sdn Bhd. iPay88 Sdn Bhd is an online payment solution provider in Southeast Asia. Executive Director Chan Kok Long said the two key disruptive driver trends that supported higher user confidence are Technological-wise, which is a new solution innovation that make funds immediately available while Behavioural-wise is an online shopping pattern towards higher value items such as automobile, property and professional services. As for the technological-based driver, iPay88 is currently working with selected partner banks to approve personal loans for online purchase, he said. "We are emulating what Alibaba has been doing since mid-2015, to offer their customers, financial loans based on their online shopping history," said Chan in a statement Monday. Riding on this, business savvy eMerchants are starting to offer ‘trial session’ opportunities for higher value products in an effort to lock-in more online orders of greater value, he said. "Tesla (cars) are now being purchased online. Most car buyers only visit the dealership after they already know which vehicle they desire - the exact specifications, how much deposit they need to pay, or simply to test drive the vehicle," said Chan. iPay88 systems recorded that users started to place booking fee and down payment for purchase of vehicles and properties via online channel. Over the same period in 2015, the volume of payment for automobile and property-related transactions have increased 53 per cent and 39 per cent, respectively in 2016. iPay88 currently represented close to 70 per cent of the country's entire eMerchant online payment system. About 36 per cent of the total online transactions, processed by iPay88, are from credit card payments while 64 per cent of the transactions are settled via online banking. -- BERNAMA