ecInsider

Online payment insights & trends in Malaysia by iPay88

2019-07-22T09:00:00.000+08:00

iPay88 (an NTT Data company), the leading payment gateway in Malaysia has released its data insights earlier this year, with payment trends and growth from 2015 to 2018.

Since iPay88 commands a big chunk of online payments in Malaysia, the data serves as a good benchmark for e-commerce trends in Malaysia.

Below are the insights reported by iPay88:

Transaction growth from 2011 to 2018
Mobile transaction growth from 2015 to 2018
Desktop transaction growth from 2015 to 2018
Mobile vs desktop from 2015 to 2018
Online banking transaction growth from 2015 to 2018
Credit card transaction growth from 2015 to 2018
Online banking vs credit card from 2015 to 2018
Unique shopper growth from 2015 to 2018
Areas (categories) of growth from 2015 to 2018
Ranking by transaction volume (2018 vs 2017)
Ranking by sales volume (2018 vs 2017)

Transaction Growth (2011 to 2018)

Total transactions (number of orders) via iPay88 were 52+ million in 2018 million which amounted to a total sales volume of RM7 billion.

The number of transactions almost doubled from 28+ million in 2017. while total sales volume has grown about 68% from 2017.

Mobile Transaction Growth (2015 to 2018)

In January 2015, there were only 193,000 transactions via mobile phones.

By December 2018, mobile transactions have skyrocketed to 5.1 million transactions, 26x growth in the space of 4 years!

Desktop Transaction Growth (2015 to 2018)

In stark contrast to the growth in mobile payments, transactions via desktop stagnated between 600,00 to 1 million from 2017 to 2018.

Mobile vs Desktop (2015 to 2018)

As you can see from the chart above, mobile has officially overtaken desktop since Q2 2016 as the preferred device for online payments in Malaysia.

Online Banking Transaction Growth (2015 to 2018)

As expected, online banking enjoys steady growth over the years. While the total online banking transactions were 13.8 million in Q4 2018, with close to 5 million transactions recorded in December 2018 alone.

Credit Card Transaction Growth (2015 to 2018)

As opposed to 13.8 million for online banking in Q4 2018, there were only 3.5 million credit card transactions during the same period, with around 1.2 million transacted in December 2018.

Online Banking vs Credit Card (2015 to 2018)

While online banking seems to be far greater than credit card transactions above, you might want to take note that credit card transactions of e-marketplaces like Shopee do not go through iPay88.

"It is more like 60% online banking vs 40% credit card, if we exclude data of those merchants who we only offer online banking facilities," says Chong Lee Kean, Business Director of iPay88.

Unique Shopper Growth (2015 to 2018)

There were close to 2 million monthly unique shoppers in Malaysia who paid through iPay88 back in December 2018, a substantial increase from the previous year.

Areas of Growth (2015 to 2018)

Marketplace, Telco Service

Accommodation, Transportation, Advertising Services, Food & Beverage

Travel, Healthcare, Government, Gift

Here's the growth rate from 2017 to 2018 by each category:

Marketplace: 71% 🥉
Telco Service - Bill Payment: 36%
Accommodation: 45%
Transportation: 38%
Advertising Services: 50%
Food & Beverage: 75% 🥈
Travel: 33%
Supplement & Healthcare: 336% 🥇
Government: 22%
Gift & Merchandise: 69%

Ranking by Transaction Volume (2018 vs 2017)

Which categories have the most transaction volume in 2018?

Marketplace
Telco Service - Bill Payment
Virtual / Instant SErvices (VOIP, SMS, Prepaid, Top-up)
General Ticketing
Transportation
Gift & Merchandise
Apparel & Fashion
Games & Toys
Subscription / Membership
Food & Beverage

Ranking by Sales Volume (2018 vs 2017)

Which categories have the most sales volume in 2018?

Marketplace
Virtual / Instant SErvices (VOIP, SMS, Prepaid, Top-up)
Telco Service - Bill Payment
Education Service / College / University
Personal & Skin Care
Apparel & Fashion
Subscription / Membership
Accommodation
General Ticketing
Professional / Consultancy Services

All you need to know about e-wallet in Malaysia (infographic)

2019-05-16T08:00:00.000+08:00

While we have written a piece of very in-depth and lengthy e-wallet insights in Malaysia here, the infographic we are presenting here is sort of like a compressed version.

Hopefully with this light-weight version of e-wallet infographic, it will be easier for even beginners to get a grasp of what's going on with e-wallet landscape in Malaysia.

Before we start, you can also view the full infographic at our Pin here.

What is e-wallet vs e-money?

What is e-wallet?

E-wallet is like the digital equivalent of your real-world physical wallet.

It appears as an app on your smartphone.

What is e-money?

E-money is like our money either in the form of coins or notes.

It appears as a digital number inside an e-wallet.

Note: Only e-wallet providers who issue e-money which can be used with multiple merchants (technically known as "open-loop") will require an e-money license from the Bank Negara Malaysia.

Types of e-wallet

Network-based e-wallet

It stores digital money on the cloud.

Examples: WeChat Pay, Grab Pay, Boost, Touch 'n Go e-wallet.

Card-based e-wallet

It rides on an existing card network like Visa, Mastercard, China UnionPay.

Examples: BigPay, MPay WALET, AEON Wallet, Merchantrade Money e-wallet.

Note: Both types of e-wallets issue e-money and can be open-loop (possible to pay other merchants).

How many e-money licenses have BNM granted?

At the time of writing, there are 42 licensed e-money issuers:

37 of them are non-banks
5 of them are banks

How to fund your e-wallet?

There are generally 4 ways to top-up your e-wallet in Malaysia:

Credit card: Top-up e-wallet via Visa or Master credit card.
Debit card: Top-up e-wallet via Visa or Master debit card.
Online bank transfer: Top-up e-wallet via online baking like Maybank, CIMB, RHB, UOB etc.
MOLPay cash at 7-11: Top-up e-wallet via MOLPay cash at 7-11 outlets, only for RazerPay, GrabPay for now.

Note: Auto-reload feature is only supported by GrabPay and Touch 'n Go e-wallet at the moment. This is a feature when the balance of your e-wallet falls under a certain amount, you can set how much you want to top-up automatically.

Why use e-wallet?

Secure & Safe

All your account information is encrypted, which means the actual account numbers aren't stored on your phone.

Password / passcode is required when you wish to change / view account information or make any purchase or transaction.

Promotions

There are plenty of promotions available by using e-wallets.

Promotions such as discounts, good deals, cash rebate, reward points, petrol cash back etc.

Convenience

No more fumbling over cash and coins.

Once your payment is made, the transaction is recorded automatically in your e-wallet apps.

Easy Transfer

It is easy to transfer / send money to different accounts.

It is convenient to split the bills with your colleagues or friends.

Easy Parking

It is easy to make payment for street parking, no more scratching parking coupons or paying with coins at the parking machine.

Save time, save paper and save the world.

Save Cost

Best exchange rate offered (direct pay via Mastercard / foreign ATM withdrawal).

Zero-processing fee for AirAsia air ticket purchase via Big Pay.

Touch 'n Go RFID toll payment

You can check and manage your balance and transaction history using Touch 'n Go e-wallet easily.

Of course, this is only supported by Touch 'n Go e-wallet.

You can also view the full infographic at our Pin here.

Interested to know more and following up on the trends and insights for e-wallet? Join the e-wallet Malaysia FB group by ecInsider now!

How to sell on Lazada Malaysia?

2019-05-09T09:30:00.000+08:00

Are you planning to sell online at one of the largest e-marketplaces in Malaysia? Here's everything you need to know in order to start selling on Lazada!

As compared to other e-marketplaces especially Shopee (read how to sell on Shopee here), you might find it not so straight-forward to get started with Lazada Seller Center, especially if you are new to selling online.

You can't blame Lazada for this as they are pretty stringent in verifying the sellers to minimize fraudulent sellers and counterfeit products on their platform.

Despite the tedious requirements, the entire process from signing up a seller account to uploading your products is actually easy if you follow this article.

Why choose Lazada?

First of all, it is obvious that Lazada is one of the top e-marketplaces in Malaysia. Lazada is also available in Southeast Asia countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam.

According to SimilarWeb, Lazada Malaysia attracted 24 million visits in March 2019. Besides the website traffic, Lazada also has a strong mobile app install base.

With a huge base of traffic and reach, you just need to set up and list your products on Lazada to entice your potential customers. Do take note that the competition is stiff too so you actually need to be competitive.

If you don't already know, there is no startup cost required to sell on Lazada. You can simply signup for a seller account and upload as many products as you wish. Lazada will only charge a 2% payment fees on every order made. As a seller, you can choose to either absorb this cost or add on to the product price for your customers to pay.

Types of Lazada sellers

There are 3 types of Lazada sellers, as you can refer below:

LazMall Seller:

You are a brand owner or authorized distributor
Exclusive access to dedicated LazMall campaigns
Benefit from higher overall search ranking
Additional seller tools
Pay commission only when you sell

Local Seller:

You are based locally
Access to a wide array of seller tools
0% commission

LazGlobal Seller:

You are based in China / Korea / Japan
You are a registered business
Ship products to Lazada overseas sort center
Access to a wide array of seller tools
Pay commission only when you sell

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Have you read the stories of these Lazada sellers?

8 benefits of selling on Lazada

#1. Zero commission fee on the product sales. Good news! If you are a Malaysian local seller, you can now able to enjoy a 0% commission fee starting from 1st July 2018, regardless of what product category you are selling. With zero commission rate, you are able to adjust your sales margin at the same time offer competitive prices for your customers. Do take note that this exclusive offer is not applicable to official brands (LazMall sellers) and cross-border sellers from other countries (LazGlobal sellers).

#2. Gain exposure for your products and store. As mentioned earlier, Lazada has 24 million monthly visits (as of March 2019) and there are many product searches and discover on both the website and mobile app. Therefore, if you are able to create relevant keywords and promotions for your products, there is a good chance for your product listing to be discovered by your potential customers.

#3. Higher trust and confidence in your products. With Lazada being the trusted e-marketplace with listing, return, cancellation policies in place to protect the buyers' interest, the chances of customers doubting your credibility (especially if you are a smaller or even unknown brand) is smaller compared to placing their first order via your own online store.

#4. Ride along with the big promotion campaigns. There are many campaigns running on Lazada at any time to stimulate sales on the platform. The major campaigns like big festival seasons, 11.11, 12.12 and Lazada Birthday are not to be missed by the sellers to gain big sales opportunities. It is not a surprise to hear from the bigger sellers that for example, sales in a single day during 11.11 is almost equivalent to the volume of an average month.

#5. Design and customize your own Lazada store. You are able to customize the presentation of your store via the Lazada Seller Center. You can either use the default look and feel, or create a new version based on your preference. Besides for brand differentiation, best seller items can be placed at the top of the landing page to attract the customers and increase the click-through rate (CTR).

#6. Create unique product content with Lorikeet. Lorikeet is a tool provided by Lazada allowing you to beautify the product content with ready templates or your own customization. You can enrich your product description in a more informative and attractive way to boost your conversion rate (CVR).

#7. Store and product sales performance report. With Lazada Seller Center, you will have access to the reports like store traffic, top-selling products etc. Data with actionable insights is important for any e-commerce business to improve and gain more sales in the future.

#8. Real-time live chat support. Lazada provides live chat tool on both the website and mobile app for customers to contact the sellers. This is crucial for customers to clarify any question regarding the products they intend to buy, subsequently improve the conversion rate (CVR).

Challenges of selling on Lazada

#1. High competition for sellers. The number of SKUs on major e-marketplaces like Lazada is immense, it is very likely to encounter other sellers who are selling the exact same product you are offering. Furthermore, you are not only facing competition from the local sellers but also from cross-border (LazGlobal) sellers from countries like China, Korea, Japan etc. Your business isn't going to take off if you don't price your products competitively.

#2. Restriction on creating variants for certain products. For some product categories, there is no option provided for the seller to create product variations which might be a hurdle for some sellers.

What do you need to prepare to start selling on Lazada?

In the past, only companies registered under SSM are eligible to apply to sell on Lazada, with SSM documents, company bank statements etc. are required for Lazada's review.

However, Lazada has since lifted the barrier by opening the application to individual sellers too. Therefore, everyone can apply to be a Lazada seller as long as you are local and own a bank account.

For your reference, these are the items required for the signup application:

Basic personal details: mobile number, email address, working/warehouse address
A copy of your IC (photo, front and back)
Bank account number & documents

After signing up, you will need to prepare:

Product details
Product images
Packaging weight & dimensions of the product

How to signup as a Lazada seller?

Before you start, first check the products you are planning to sell are not listed in the Lazada Prohibited and Controlled Product List (or check here, login to Lazada Seller Center is required). Besides that, do take note that counterfeit products are prohibited as well.

Unlike in Shopee which allows you to have 1 account to serve as both seller and buyer, Lazada requires two separate accounts for this purpose. If you already have a Lazada shopping (buyer) account, you still need to head over to Lazada Seller Center to signup for the seller account.

1. Go to Lazada Seller Center, click "Become A Seller" to register a seller account.

2. As mentioned earlier in the article, there are 3 types of seller: LazMall, local and LazGlobal seller. If you are selling from Malaysia and you are not representing any official brands, select Local Seller.

3. To sign up as a seller, you are required to provide your mobile phone first for verification. Then, fill in the rest of the details such as username and password.

4. Fill up the Business, Warehouse and Return addresses to complete your profile. If three of them are the same address, you can mark "Same as Warehouse/Return Address" and it will be populated automatically.

5. Once you are done with your address book, you have completed 33% of the to-do list. Now, click on the next step to upload your products.

You can add product one by one, or click "Batch Upload" to upload products by bulk.

6. Next, enter the basic product details: Long and Short Description. For Short Description, you can insert text and multiple images to show additional information about your product.

As for Long Description, you can enrich the content using Lorikeet to insert text and multiple images with drag and drop method. Without using Lorikeet, Lazada will consider your product as not attractive and unlist your product.

There are also built-in templates available that might fit into your product category. If templates available are not the right fit, you can click "Create New" to create your own design.

You might find it difficult if you are using Lorikeet for the first time, in this case, you can select the old version as the interface could be easier to use.

The screenshot below shows the old version of Lorikeet. The left bar shows the edit options and the preview are shown in the center. You are able to design for both mobile and desktop version.

Let’s start by designing for the mobile version. To insert image and text, select "Image & Text" and click "Edit Content".

On the right bar, select which component you wish to add (image, text, and link). To add an image, click on the photo icon to upload an image and adjust the size of the image. You are also allowed to add image and text together. Click "Save" once you are done.

You can upload multiple images to show the variation of the product (different colors, sizes).

After save, you will be able to see the preview at the center. Just select the module from the left bar again if you want to add extra information. Besides image and text, you can add a table as well which will be useful for products like fashion to display a size chart.

Once it's done, you can now duplicate this design to the desktop version if you want both the versions to have the same design. Just click "Copy from Mobile" and apply it to PC. Click ‘Save’ and close the Lorikeet decorator screen.

7. Fill up the rest of the details required: Package Weight, Package Dimensions and Brand.

8. If your product is available in different variations, enter the variation one by one. You can add an image for each variation.

9. Add new SKU for each of the product variations with SellerSKU, Quantity, Price, Taxes and Special Price (if any).

Note: Remember to consider and factor in the 2% Payment Fee into the price of the product.

10. Once it's done, click "Publish" and your product will be listed successfully. To continue uploading the next product, click "Add Another Product", or click "Done" if you prefer to upload it later.

11. Whenever you need to add new products, just click "Add New" to create a new product or you can click on Products from the menu bar and select "Add Products".

12. Good job as you have now completed 67% of the to-do list. Now, select the third step to verify your ID and Bank information.

13. First, you have to enter the information of your name, IC number and a copy of your identity card to verify that you are a legit local citizen.

14. Next, provide your bank account information. Click "Submit" when you are done.

Congratulations, you have done setting up your Lazada seller account! You can now look forward to your first ever order at Lazada.

As a seller, you are responsible to check incoming orders from Lazada Seller Center every day or frequently to optimize order fulfillment hence increase customer's shopping experience.

Lazada has developed a shipping standard for all sellers that all orders must be packed and dropped off at the courier pickup or Lazada drop off station within 24 hours. Failing so might lead to order cancellation. You can check the order fulfillment guidelines by Lazada below.

How to fulfill the orders at Lazada?

1. While you will receive an email notification for every incoming order, you are advised to login to the Lazada Seller Center regularly to check orders.

Go to Orders, select "Manage Orders" to check orders.

2. You need to pay attention to pending orders, you can click "+" on the leftmost column to view the order details. Watch out for multiple products ordered within the same order as some products need to be packed separately to avoid bulky packaging.

You can view the buyer’s name, address and product ordered in order details.

3. When you are ready to ship, click "Ready To Ship" in the last column and select a Delivery Provider based on the payment method used by the customer, then click "Create Package".

Note: Delivery provider options are populated based on the payment method selected. There are 2 types of payment method: Prepaid (paid by credit/debit card or bank transfer using payment gateway) and COD (cash on delivery, to be paid upon delivery).

Payment Method	Delivery Provider
Prepaid	LEX, SkyNet, GDEX, PosLaju etc.
COD	LEX, Ninjavan, Ta-Q-Bin

4. You will then be prompted with this screen with Order Number, Items and Invoice Number. While the invoice number is created automatically by Lazada, you can change it if you want to. Click "Save Invoice ID" to proceed.

5. You can now pack the order by following this requirement by Lazada.

6. After you saved the invoice number, you will be prompted with a print dialog in order to print out the invoice. Before you seal the packaging, remember to insert the printed invoice inside the parcel.

7. The printed column will turn from cross to tick after you print the invoice.

8. Click "Ready to Ship" and a Tracking ID will be shown.

9. Next, printing option and copies of shipping labels will be prompted.

For LEX, only the Receiver Copy and Merchant Copy of the shipping label are required to be printed out. For other providers such as SkyNet, GDEX and PosLaju, you need to print 4 copies of the shipping label by following these instructions:

Every copy must be printed in Landscape layout and in A5 paper size.
Receiver Copy: Stick this on the package.
POD and Billing Copy: Insert into the plastic pouch and stick on the package.
Merchant Copy: This is for your own reference and record.
Make sure every bar code can be clearly seen on the packaging.

10. Once it's done, click "Ready To Ship" to update the status from "Pending" to "Ready to Ship" and your customers will be notified that their order is now ready to ship. The updated orders will then move to "Ready to Ship" tab.

11. Now, you can prepare for the parcel to be dropped off at your nearest 3PL branch. Once the delivery provider has picked up your parcel, the order will move from "Ready to Ship" to "Shipped" tab.

To track the order, enter Order Number on the tab to check the progress. Once it's delivered to the customer successfully, the order will show "Delivered" under the "Completed" tab.

What is the shipping rates of Lazada?

The final shipping fee to be paid by the customer is either the actual weight (by kg) or volumetric weight (by dimensions), whichever higher.

That's why every seller needs to fill in the package weight and dimension for each product. Refer to the tables below on Lazada shipping rate card by 3 regions.

Lazada shipping rate card for Klang Valley

Lazada shipping rate card for West Malaysia

Lazada shipping rate card for East Malaysia

Tips to run promotions on Lazada

In order to stand out from the vigorous competition, you need to consider running promotions on Lazada to attract traffic and boost your sales.

You can run promotions either all year long, or valid for a certain period only. Read on to find out what kind of promotions you can execute on the platform.

Join Lazada Campaigns

As mentioned earlier in this article, there are campaigns running all year round especially the bigger ones like 11.11, 12.12, Lazada Birthday etc. which provide sellers with the opportunity to grow their sales.

Go to Seller Center > Promotions > Campaign Management to check out the latest campaigns, click on the campaign you are interested to find out more.

For example, you can check the requirements and conditions required to join Lazada Daily Flash Sale in the screenshot above. Take note on the campaign period and time left to register on the right too.

Next, add the product(s) you are planning to offer and submit for Lazada's review. Your promotions proposal will only go live if it's approved by Lazada.

Offer Free Shipping

Free shipping is a very common offer for online shoppers and Lazada provides you options to customize your free shipping promotions.

Go to Seller Center > Promotions > Free Shipping > Create New Promotion > Insert Promotion Name & Budget > Set Configurations.

Sellers can offer free shipping in such way:

Long term or specific period only
No conditions or order above minimum quantity or amount
All regions or specific regions only
Applicable to the entire shop or specific products only

Product Bundling

As the name suggests, you can combine multiple products into bundle promotions with more value to the customers. It can be the same products (buy 2 at a cheaper price), or the bundled products are related to each other.

This is also a useful tactic to tag a less popular product with a hot selling product to clear your stock.

You can offer product bundling promotions by:

Combo: Buy item A and item B together at a cheaper price
Quantity: Discount for buying similar products
Free Gift: Buy 1 main product and choose 1 selected item for free
Buy 1 Free 1: Buy item A and free item A

To create product bundling promotions, go to Seller Center > Promotions > Bundles > Add New Promotions > Insert Promotion Details > Add Products.

Distribution of Vouchers

As you might already know, you can offer discount vouchers with a minimum purchase. The discount voucher offered can only be used within your store only.

You can refer below on an example showing vouchers offered by a store at Lazada. Your customers can collect the voucher either from your store or the product page.

That's it, we hope you can now master some basic knowledge to start selling on Lazada!

Feel free to visit Lazada University if you need to find out more tutorials, or attend Lazada training workshop which is available from time to time.

How to sell on Shopee Malaysia?

2019-04-24T09:00:00.000+08:00

Are you new to selling online especially on e-marketplaces? You might want to consider Shopee as it is so easy, let's read on to find out the details.

Shopee has designed its own Shopee mobile app in a way that both buying and selling is easy. With the Shopee App, you can now sell anytime and anywhere!

Shopee started as mobile-first e-marketplace so it is not surprising that Shopee app ranks highly in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store if you refer to SimilarWeb.

In fact, it is the most popular app (at the time of writing) among all the e-commerce or to be specific e-marketplace players here, ahead of its fiercest competitor - Lazada.

Shopee has always been encouraging everyone to sell online, it is free and there is not many requirements or constraints for you to become a seller.

How many types of Shopee seller?

For a start, there are 3 types of sellers that are selling on Shopee, namely Normal Seller, Preferred Seller, and Shopee Mall Seller.

Here's a table to differentiate the type of Shopee seller:

Feature	Normal Seller	Preferred Seller	Shopee Mall Seller
What do they sell?	(i) Selling own brand of product (ii) Reselling other brands of products (new/used)		(i) Official brand (genuine & authentic product) (ii) Top sellers
Who they are?	Can be anyone	Active seller, specially selected by Shopee team	Official brands
What is the criteria?	No minimum criteria (they might sell fake products)	(i) High shop rating (ii) Many successful transactions made (iii) Good customer service	(i) Product has 100% authenticity (ii) Provide 15 days return (iii) Free shipping when purchased up to a certain amount
How to identify them?	No label on the product	The “Preferred” label is displayed on the top left corner of the product on the product page and search result page	The “Mall” label is displayed on the top left corner of the product on the product page and search result page

When you have become a Preferred Seller, you are able to enjoy additional benefits as compared to a normal seller. With the label or badge, you gain a higher reputation and trust from the potential customers.

In order to become a Preferred Seller, these monthly criteria must be fulfilled:

What are the benefits of becoming a Shopee seller?

(1) 0% Commission Fee

Back then, Shopee started to attack the market aggressively without charging the sellers any commission fees (a percentage upon the sale of products).

The commission fee is still ZERO at the moment, except for Shopee Mall Seller as Shopee will start charging 3% to 5% (depending on the product category) starting from 1 May 2019 onwards.

Here's an example of the calculation:

(2) 1% Transaction Fee

Not to be mistaken with the commission fee above, the transaction fee is meant for payment handling fee imposed on all successful transactions via all payment channels.

Shopee used to absorb the transaction fee but it has since started charging a mere 1% upon successful sales. This is how the transaction fee is calculated.

Read here for more information

(3) Free Shipping Fee

Shopee is running the "Free 5kg Shipping Program" which offers advantages to both the sellers and buyers. With this program, Shopee will subsidize up to 5kg for deliveries within West Malaysia and 1kg to East Malaysia per order via Pos Laju.

Read here for more information

(4) Real-time Live Chat

With Shopee live chat, sellers can assist potential buyers in real time. Besides providing a good shopping experience for Shopee customers, this also helps the sellers to increase the conversion rate.

(5) Shop Rating & Reputation

By providing good product quality and excellent customer service, this will encourage buyers to leave a good rating and review at your online store.

With higher shop's reputation, you will gain higher trust from your potential new customers, Your store and products are likely to rank higher also with more exposure and sales opportunities.

(6) Big Sale Campaigns

One of the major benefits of joining e-marketplaces like Shopee is to ride on their aggressive sale campaigns like 11.11 and 12.12 (check Shopee's performance during 12.12.2018).

With huge marketing effort, traffic will spike on big sale campaigns hence a big opportunity for sellers to increase their sales significantly during these promotions.

With so many benefits, what are you still waiting for? You can either start selling on Shopee using the app or website (desktop), read on to find out how!

Note: You might want to first check whether your products are not listed in the Prohibited and Restricted Items by Shopee.

How to sell on Shopee using Shopee app?

1. Download Shopee Malaysia app, it is available on Play Store and App Store for free.

2. Open the app, find and select “Me” at the bottom right of the menu to sign up for an account.

3. Select “Sign up” to register for an account before you can start uploading your product.

4. Firstly, fill in your phone number as Shopee needs to verify that you are a valid and genuine user before allowing you to buy or sell. Click “Continue” and a 6 digit verification code will be sent to your mobile via SMS. Then, create your username and password. Alternatively, you can choose to sign up with Email or Facebook.

5. After you have registered your account successfully, select “Me” to view your profile. On the top, select “Start Selling” to become a seller.

6. Select “Add New Product” to upload your product image.

7. There will be 3 options for you to select how you want to upload your product image.

Select “Photos” to upload the images if you already have the product images saved in your mobile phone or select “Camera” to use the in-app camera to snap your products directly and upload.
You can also select “Instagram” to upload the products images from your Instagram account if you are already selling on Instagram.

8. After the image is selected, you can edit the image with the filters provided to create a more attractive image. Then, click “Save”. You are allowed to upload up to 9 images in total for a product. (Click and hold the image to mark as the cover photo)

9. Fill in the required product details such as Product Name, Description, Category, Price, Stock, Weight and Shipping Fee.

10. Once all the details have been filled in, make sure you enable the “Publish Product”, then click on the “Submit” button.

11. After you click on the “Submit” button, this message will pop up as a reminder that you must be able to ship out your product within 2 days if you do not allow for Pre-Order.

12. Tadaa! Your product is now listed successfully. Go to “View My Shop” to view all the listed products and your shop ratings.

13. If you wish to edit a product, go to “View My Shop” and select the listed product that you wish to edit. Click on the "3 dots icon" and select “Edit Product”.

14. To add a new product, go to “Me” and click on “My Shop”. Select “Add New Product” and upload the product image.

15. You are allowed to change your shop name if you don't want it to be the same as your username. Go to ‘Seller Assistant”, select ‘Shop Profile’ & you can set your shop name.

How to sell on Shopee using desktop?

1. Go to https://shopee.com.my, click “Sign Up” on the top right to register for a Shopee account.

2. Fill in your phone number and click “Send Verification Code”. You will receive a 6-digit code via SMS and fill in the code in the “Verification Code” field. Then, create your username and password. Alternatively, you can choose to sign up with Email or Facebook.

3. Go to “Seller Centre” on the top left of the page and login using the username and password that you have just created.

4. Click “Add a New Product”, then fill in the Product Name and Categories. Once done, click “Next” to proceed.

5. Fill in the product details such as Product Name, Description, Category, Brand, Price, Stock, Weight and Shipping Fee. Upload and edit the product image and the first image will be the cover image. Once done, click “Save and Publish” and your product will be listed.

6. When you have your product uploaded, you are officially a Shopee seller. Each time when you wish to view your shop, just login at the Shopee Seller Centre to upload, manage products and check your orders.

For Live Chat function, click on the conversation icon to view the chat.

If you have any enquiry or need any support, go to “My Shop”, select “Help Centre” and check the FAQ.

Tips to improve your shop performance

1. Make sure to provide the product image and product description that are genuine, complete and understandable to increase the customer’s confidence towards your product. (e.g. more product photos showing the different angles of the product)

2. Not to forget to add #hashtag on the product description to allow the buyer to easily find your product when they search for the keywords related to your product.

3. Always check your stock inventory and update regularly to reflect the actual stock count. If an order is cancelled due to out-of-stock, this will not only frustrate your customers, your shop's reputation will be affected too.

4. Check your shop daily or periodically for incoming orders. It will be great to process the order promptly and ship out the order quickly, or at least within the promised delivery window.

5. Remind and encourage your customers to share their review and rate your shop/product, as good ratings will be reflected in your shop hence boost the confidence of your new customers.

3 more things you should know as a Shopee seller

After you have set up your shop and products on Shopee, there are a few more useful things to know before you start rolling and laughing to the bank.

(1) Shopee Guarantee

Shopee Guarantee is a scheme to protect the buyers from being cheated by the seller. For example, when the seller does not deliver the order after the payment has been made.

Whenever the buyer has made the payment, it will not go directly to the seller, but it will be held by Shopee instead. The payment will only be released to the sellers when the buyer confirms that he or she has received the order, or after the Shopee Guarantee period as below:

Days to Ship: No of days required by the seller to ship the order (2 days).
Estimated Delivery Time: No of days taken to deliver the order to the buyer.
Buyer Confirmation Time: No of days buffered for the buyer to confirm receiving the order.

(2) Withdrawal of Fund

Shopee will release the payment to seller’s Shopee Wallet, instead of your bank account. You can set the funds to be transferred from your Shopee Wallet to your bank account automatically, just go to Shopee Wallet, select Wallet Settings and enable the "Auto Withdrawal" feature.

When this feature is enabled, the entire fund available in your Shopee Wallet will be transferred automatically to your bank account (which you have added in the Account Settings) on every Wednesday.

Alternatively, you can transfer the fund manually but you are allowed to do so only once per day and 3 times free withdrawal per week. For additional withdrawals, you will be charged RM0.11 each time to cover the bank processing fee.

Here's how you can set up your Shopee Wallet and Bank Account here:

(3) Shopee My Ads

As a seller, you can allocate some budget to advertise your products on Shopee (just like Google Ads or Facebook Ads) to increase the exposure of your products to more buyers.

Shopee "My Ads" enables sellers to improve the placement/ranking of their product listing on the search result page when certain keywords are searched. Seller will be charged by Cost-per-Click (CPC) model, pay only when the ad is clicked.

How does Shopee My Ads work?

The ranking of your product with ‘My Ads’ will be based on:

1. Relevancy of keywords (up to 50 keywords allowed)

The more relevant the search keyword (typed by the user) with the keyword you bid, the higher the exposure of your product listing (top 5 listings will appear on the 1st page of search result page).

2. The bid price for Cost-per-Click

The higher the amount is set, the higher the ranking of your product listing. Product listings that appear on the 1st page of the search result page will pay the highest bid price

Where will the advertised product appear at?

As you would have expected, every advertised product will have the "Ad" label shown at the bottom right of the product listing.

Shopee App (Mobile version) - It will appear at the first 2 product listing (first row) and the subsequent advertised product will appear after every 3 regular listings (6th, 10th, 14th, 18th... product listing).

Shopee Website (Desktop version) - It will appear at the first and last row of the search result page.

The conclusion

While it is not difficult to start selling on Shopee, growing your online business is a different matter altogether. In any case, you still need to take the first step to stand any chance of success! Better hurry so that you can still enjoy the benefits of being a Shopee seller before it is taken away.

To learn more, you can consider joining Shopee University Class which is held by Shopee Malaysia to help the beginners to learn how to sell on Shopee plus selling tips and marketing techniques, or you can learn from Shopee's video tutorials here.

Top 23 online shopping sites by big retailers in Malaysia

2019-04-19T09:00:00.000+08:00

The last time we compiled and wrote about this was 4 years ago, this time around the chart is expanded from top 10, to top 23 online shopping sites by big retailers in Malaysia.

While Senheng was leading comfortably 4 years ago, the pole position has now been claimed by Watsons. Watsons has increased its website traffic by more than 18 times from 2015, pulling away from the rest. With 1.8 million monthly traffic, Watsons has almost double the traffic of Tesco at second-place.

On another hand, we welcome new entries like MR DIY, JD Sports etc. to the chart.

While we were using SimilarWeb 4 years ago, the data is sourced from SEMrush this time around (for the month of March 2019). From our observations, SEMrush's data is closer to the real numbers if compared to SimilarWeb.

Do take note though that the figures are by no means exact but it serves as a good reference and for comparison purpose.

Following are some notes on how we shortlist the retailers:

Focus on established chain store retailers instead of those boutique ones, pure-play online retailers (or those started from e-commerce) are not being considered.
Retailers without e-commerce sites like AEON, AEON BiG, Giant etc. are not shortlisted.
Only e-commerce sites with more than 50,000 monthly visits are being listed here.
Some retailers like UNIQLO, IKEA, Nike are using single-domain strategy to serve all markets, they are not being included here as it is challenging to get local data.
International retailers like Watsons, Tesco, Sephora, Adidas are using the local domain hence they are shortlisted here.

Without further ado, here are the top 23 e-commerce sites by established retailers in Malaysia.

#1. Watsons

watsons.com.my

Estimated monthly visits: 1,800,000
Monthly unique visitors: 933,600
Pages / visit: 5.36
Avg. visit duration: 7:50

#2. Tesco

tesco.com.my (eshop.tesco.com.my)

Estimated monthly visits: 983,500

Monthly unique visitors: 493,800
Pages / visit: 4.53
Avg. visit duration: 7:58
* includes data to its "corporate website"

#3. Senheng

senheng.com.my

Estimated monthly visits: 686,700
Monthly unique visitors: 389,900
Pages / visit: 2.98
Avg. visit duration: 7:51

#4. Guardian

guardian.com.my

Estimated monthly visits: 615,400
Monthly unique visitors: 310,600
Pages / visit: 3.86
Avg. visit duration: 8:55

#5. MR DIY

mrdiy.com.my

Estimated monthly visits: 336,600
Monthly unique visitors: 204,000
Pages / visit: 6.20
Avg. visit duration: 8:49

#6. Sephora

sephora.my

Estimated monthly visits: 305,900
Monthly unique visitors: 161,000
Pages / visit: 6.16
Avg. visit duration: 7:22

#7. Adidas

adidas.com.my

Estimated monthly visits: 283,900
Monthly unique visitors: 153,800
Pages / visit: 8.74
Avg. visit duration: 9:35

#8. JD Sports

jdsports.my

Estimated monthly visits: 275,500
Monthly unique visitors: 139,500
Pages / visit: 8.10
Avg. visit duration: 8:14

#9. MPH

mphonline.com

Estimated monthly visits: 215,800
Monthly unique visitors: 156,500
Pages / visit: 2.67
Avg. visit duration: 7:22

#10. Mydin

mydin.com.my

Estimated monthly visits: 213,900
Monthly unique visitors: 133,800
Pages / visit: 4.90
Avg. visit duration: 8:33
* includes data to its "corporate website"

#11. Popular

popularonline.com.my

Estimated monthly visits: 196,500
Monthly unique visitors: 101,100
Pages / visit: 7.12
Avg. visit duration: 11:27

#12. Padini

padini.com

Estimated monthly visits: 190,600
Monthly unique visitors: 97,600
Pages / visit: 7.34
Avg. visit duration: 8:39

#13. The Body Shop

thebodyshop.com.my

Estimated monthly visits: 184,000
Monthly unique visitors: 103,400
Pages / visit: 4.20
Avg. visit duration: 7:37

#14. Harvey Norman

harveynorman.com.my

Estimated monthly visits: 161,700
Monthly unique visitors: 109,300
Pages / visit: 3.48
Avg. visit duration: 5:15

#15. Caring Pharmacy

caring2u.com (estore.caring2u.com)

Estimated monthly visits: 120,000
Monthly unique visitors: 65,400
Pages / visit: 2.70
Avg. visit duration: 3:33
* includes data to its "corporate website"

#16. Jaya Grocer

jayagrocer.com

Estimated monthly visits: 113,600
Monthly unique visitors: 82,500
Pages / visit: 3.20
Avg. visit duration: 7:57

#17. Al-Ikhsan Sports

al-ikhsan.com

Estimated monthly visits: 108,500
Monthly unique visitors: 58,000
Pages / visit: 3.56
Avg. visit duration: 7:17

#18. senQ

senq.com.my

Estimated monthly visits: 104,600
Monthly unique visitors: 71,300
Pages / visit: 2.87
Avg. visit duration: 6:50

#19. Kiehl's

kiehlstimes.com.my

Estimated monthly visits: 103,100
Monthly unique visitors: 58,600
Pages / visit: 4.62
Avg. visit duration: 6:38

#20. Toys"R"Us

toysrus.com.my

Estimated monthly visits: 67,800
Monthly unique visitors: 42,500
Pages / visit: 4.43
Avg. visit duration: 9:02

#21. Eu Yan Sang

euyansang.com.my

Estimated monthly visits: 67,000
Monthly unique visitors: 36,800
Pages / visit: 4.06
Avg. visit duration: 14:54

#22. Bata

bata.com.my

Estimated monthly visits: 59,600
Monthly unique visitors: 43,100
Pages / visit: 7.28
Avg. visit duration: 7:50

#23. GNC Livewell

gnclivewell.com.my

Estimated monthly visits: 59,600

Monthly unique visitors: 33,200

Pages / visit: 2.69

Avg. visit duration: 6:02

The Conclusion

Among the top 23 sites, close to half of them are home-grown brands, either founded in Malaysia or owned by Malaysians.

Bravo to forward-thinking local retailers like Senheng, MR DIY, MPH, Mydin, Padini, Caring Pharmacy, Jaya Grocer, Al-Ikhsan Sports, senQ and Eu Yan Sang.

You can check out again the top 23 list in the table below, feel free to sort by columns too.

The traffic growth of e-commerce sites by brand retailers here has been tremendous, which will definitely contribute to online sales.

As mentioned earlier in the article, Watsons has grown 18x from 100K in 2015 to 1.8M monthly visits in 2019, albeit using different measurement tool but you get the point.

In fact, most of the retailers are enjoying healthy growth over the years. While many of them are active in e-marketplaces, they are also future-proofing by growing their own branded stores at the same time.

Being a digital & creative agency specializing in the retail segment, we have the pleasure of working with 11 out of 23 featured retailers above.

Do leave a comment below if you think we missed out any names who qualified for this list.

Fireside Chat with Jason Siew, CEO of WeChat Pay MY

2019-04-02T09:00:00.000+08:00

In this episode of the fireside chat, it is our pleasure to host Jason Siew, CEO of WeChat Pay Malaysia right after WeChat official launching event in Kuala Lumpur.

While you can watch the fireside chat at our YouTube channel, here is the full transcript of our exclusive interview.

If you are new to WeChat Pay, read our guide on how to enable & top-up WeChat Pay in Malaysia.

Currently, how many install base you're looking at in Malaysia alone?

Install base in Malaysia alone, we have about 20 million registered users. Globally, we have about 1,089 million monthly active users (MAU).

How many monthly active users out of 20+ million in Malaysia?

If I would guess, maybe about half of it.

For 2019, what is your key focus in driving WeChat Pay forward?

So right now, if you look at the Experience Zone, what we've shared, is bringing value and user experience to solve pain points such as if you look at food ordering solution using mamak. One of the issues I've always had is when I watch Premier League in the mamak, I can't get the waiter's attention. I can't get them to come and serve me basically when I want to give them money.

So that's where the idea for the solution came about, I don't need them to come. I just need to scan the table, select whatever I want, order, and pay. Then at the kitchen, you just bring me my food, that's it. I skipped the whole part of ordering and paying.

When will we see this rolling out at the mamak in Malaysia?

You will see this very soon. Definitely this year. Possible Q2. It is as fast as I can get it because I'm going to be the user.

Apart from this, what else are you doing to drive this adoption?

If you look at the kuih-muih store we have there, that is to cater to more small businesses such as your night markets, your makciks, your nasi lemak sellers, your hawkers. That is easier to implement because it uses a static QR, just scan and pay.

So that is simple, easy, and that is something that we want to roll out very soon as well.

Currently, none of the existing merchants is using static QR?

None, we did not roll out Static QR. It was all Dynamic QR via Quick pay.

Why we did Quick Pay first was because, relatively speaking, Quick Pay is more suitable for larger businesses and franchises. For example, Starbucks. This is because it offers more powerful insights or data that they may need for their reporting and reconciliation.

But the static QR has fewer features in terms of reporting. So it will not be suitable for merchants, but it's fine for your small traders. So that's the reason why we first started with Quick Pay. This is because when we started rolling out, we wanted to get franchises and chains on board, so that's the fastest process.

After gaining more traction, people know about us, people started using, then we said okay to offer something that your average trader can use.

Currently, WeChat Pay only supports top-up via bank debit card. Why is it so? And secondly, how soon can I expect alternative top-up methods in WeChat Pay, in terms of cash, credit card, or even online banking? I'm surprised that online banking is not supported. Any particular reason for that as well?

Let's address why debit cards. So we support all Malaysia-issued Visa and Master debit cards. The rational why debit cards is almost every Malaysian would have a debit card.

According to 2017 BNM numbers, there are over 40 million debit cards in circulation versus about roughly 10-11 million credit cards in circulation. And these are the number of cards, not unique users. And from what we gauged is that if you have a debit card, you may not have a credit card. If you have a credit card, you will have a debit card.

So we decided to go with the debit card, simply because education would be easier. Right now for the market, this is something new, and the biggest challenge is educating users. So we decided to make it really simple, let's not confuse them. Let's tell them "debit card." Or for the older generation, we'll tell them "your ATM card" because we sometimes refer to it as ATM card.

It's a decision that we made after taking into consideration of the local context.

So you chose this because the debit card has more circulation, in terms of the card issued there're 40 over million. So obviously people who have debit card, they have an online bank account as well. Are you looking forward to adding that next in the pipeline?

I want to correct you a little, you can have a debit card without online banking. For example, my mom has a debit card, but no online bank account at all.

The challenge about online banking after we looked at it, is that every bank has different online banking experience. Just different in terms of interface but a similar concept; you must log in, you put in your password. Then some have OTP, some you must enter a pin number that you set.

So there are too many variations when you go from bank to bank. There's no consistency, and that makes education a challenge.

Whereas for your debit card, regardless of which bank you come from, it is consistent. So again, the decision was made based on educating the users.

You did showcase one on SmartFuel in your Experience Zone today. So you realize that Petronas has rolled out their own closed-loop app called Setel. How is SmartFuel different from Setel in terms of experience usage? And also, for SmartFuel, will you see it as a killer use case scenario that will boost your WeChat Pay usage?

Okay so first, I'll give some background on SmartFuel that you see in the Experience Zone. The one that you see right now is no longer the latest iteration. We are already working on the second iteration. And I must emphasize, it is a prototype, it is a concept, it is not ready for market.

So why we showcase it today is to let people have a look at what actually are we doing behind the scenes. What we're actually working on. And this is one industry, one aspect, one area that we are looking into. We felt that it is interesting, let's share this, but we must emphasize that this is a prototype.

Why and how this idea came about is one of our more notable merchants, Petron, accepted WeChat Pay at the petrol station, but only inside the store. You must walk into the store and pay because in petrol stations, there is a security and fire concern, so you must enter the store.

Then we're thinking, "Hey if you have to enter the store, it is not that convenient." How can we then make it more convenient? So we're thinking that since WeChat is online, for example, I know my car plate number, I can key in my car plate number and store it. I can just key in an amount, let's say RM50 for example, and okay I'll go to this pump and just press.

Can you predetermine the pump first before you arrive at the pump?

There's no need to predetermine the pump, just choose the station. For the purpose of the prototype, you must stop at the specific pump. But for the ideation part, it doesn't matter which pump you stop at, so long as you go to the station you selected.

People ask me, "What if I just fake your car plate number?" Here is an interesting thought. First, you must know that I'm going to which petrol station, you must know the timeframe that I'm going. From the moment I press 'pay,' in this iteration, there's a 1-hour window. So for you to steal my fuel is quite hard.

So you try to reduce the risk of this data getting stolen?

It's very hard. The odds, of course, there are always odds statistically speaking, but it is 1 in a million or way bigger than that.

So this iteration comes from our learning or understanding of working with Petron, and offering WeChat Pay at Petron. Then we looked at it and we realized we can do better.

I understand this is like a car plate recognition technology. Are you going to add on additional things on top? For example, the car model, the colour of the car.

I would say, technology-wise, not speaking from WeChat Pay perspective, under Tencent Cloud, we have artificial intelligence technology.

These are all possibilities. But in the context of right now, like I said, it is a prototype, we did not go that deep or far. But it is definitely possible.

So are we going to see this roll out this year as well?

I don't think so, we're still studying it.

Put it this way, we at WeChat Pay, we are really perfectionists when it comes to user experience. We will not roll out something that we will not use ourselves. All of us in the company behaves that way. We must firmly believe in it before we give it to our customers and users.

If you look at Malaysia now, 80% of our transactions are still done in cash, while cards and others comprise about 20% of that. Why do cards who already exist for a long time and only took 20% of the entire market? And why are you optimistic that e-wallet eventually will become the mainstream payment method for the consumers at mass?

So coming back to the question, it is again 2 words, User Experience. How is the experience of paying with cash or card any different? Of course, you might pay with a card if there's no change versus cash. Otherwise, is there a huge difference to the user from a user's perspective?

Today when we showcase, it's really talking about adding value to the user experience. Not so much about payment, frankly speaking. We don't focus that much on saying "Wow, WeChat Pay is great," "Use WeChat Pay." We always talk about the user experience, and how we can make scenario right now that we face, like my mamak experience, how do I make the experience better.

Again, if you look at the example, after you scan, it opens up WeChat Pay, the WeChat OA, loads the menu, you can choose and order, and pay is the last part of it.

That's why in WeChat Pay, 'Pay' is at the end and 'WeChat" is in the front. It goes hand-in-hand with our ecosystem and completes the cycle.

Malaysia's online shopping behaviour in infographic

2019-03-22T09:15:00.000+08:00

It has been a while since we shared infographic about online shopping in Malaysia, the last time we published was almost 3 years back, which you can check here and there.

Online discount platform Picodi has recently released an insightful online shopping infographic on consumer behaviour in Malaysia.

Do take note that this data is based on Picodi's internal data back in 2018.

From the 2018's data, it is proven that online shopping spiked in November due to Singles' Day a.k.a. 11.11, while online shopping activities in Malaysia were at the lowest in November despite the push by #MYCYBERSALE.

Another interesting perspective is that AOV (Average Order Volume) in Malaysia was USD72 (~RM291) in 2018, which is slightly lower than the world's average of USD79.

Read on to find out 15 facts & figures about online shopping in Malaysia.

#1. Malaysian still prefer to shop online using desktop computers (68%), with only 1 out of 3 purchases was made via smartphones (31%).

#2. Surprisingly, the AOV (Average Order Volume) was the highest via tablets at RM339, followed by RM314 via smartphones, and RM284 via computers.

#3. Are Apple users richer? This might be true as AOV via iOS was RM361, while it is RM50 lesser on Android at RM311.

#4. As expected, women shop online more than men, there were 58% online transactions made by women as compared to men at 42%.

#5. More than half (51%) of online shoppers are people between the ages of 25 and 34, with another quarter (24%) are people from 18 to 24 years old.

#6. AOV was the highest in June (RM440), followed by May (RM366) and March (RM337). While May and June are likely to be triggered by Hari Raya shopping, it is quite interesting to find out that AOV is on the high side in March.

#7. Surprisingly, December scored the lowest AOV at RM205 despite the Christmas and year-end shopping window. We can only assume that this might be caused by "post-11.11 syndrome", where consumers focus their big item purchases in November instead.

#8. The assumption we made earlier could be right as November scored the highest number of online shopping activities due to the 11.11 fever, with 11.4% of all transactions in 2018 were made in this month.

#9. Even with the lowest AOV, December was the second busiest month with a 10.2% spread.

#10. Despite #MYCYBERSALE's push, the lowest number of transactions was recorded in September (6.5%), even lower than February with Chinese New Year holidays.

#11. Monday was the most active day for Malaysians to shop online via desktop computers. Could this be a shopping therapy for those who work in the offices to cure Monday blues?

#12. On another hand, shopping via mobile is quite consistent throughout the week, with the activities getting higher towards the end of the week.

#13. By looking at the hourly trend above, shopping on computers peaks from 8pm to 10pm.

#14. Shopping on mobile peaks at 10am, 4pm and 8pm. As expected, transactions were at the lowest during the lunch hours from 12noon to 2pm on all devices.

#15. The most popular categories for Malaysians to buy online are food on delivery, travel, clothing, cosmetics and sports.

You can also view the full infographic at Pinterest:

Credit: All infographic in this article is produced by Picodi.

Maybank MAE eWallet: How to apply, register & top-up balance?

2019-03-06T13:45:00.000+08:00

Maybank has just launched its e-wallet service under the name of MAE. While it sounds really cute, MAE actually stands for "Maybank Anytime, Everywhere".

While MAE is open to non-Maybank customers, this guide is focused on a step-by-step tutorial for existing Maybank customers with savings or current account.

First of all, you need to install or update (to the latest version) the Maybank MY from Google Play or App Store. Do take note that you won't be able to activate the e-wallet if you are using the older app version.

Once you have done installing or updating, fire the Maybank app and let's roll!

Maybank MAE service is only available from 6am to 11pm daily

Rule number one, don't try this during midnight! According to the app, MAE service is only available from 6am to 11pm daily.

How to apply & register for Maybank MAE

Step #1. Select "Apply Online" from the app menu

You have to first tap on the menu icon on the top-left of your Maybank app, then select "Apply Online" from the menu.

Step #2. Select "Create MAE eWallet"

From the list of Maybank products, select "MAE Create My Amazing E-Wallet" option to proceed, who knows it will be an amazing experience!

Step #3. Maybank MAE introduction

A splash screen of Maybank MAE introduction will be shown, tap on "Experience MAE Now" to proceed.

Step #4. Complete the MAE registration form

Next, a simple form will be prompted. You just need to fill-up email and state (why?) to register. It is also mentioned here that you are required to top-up a minimum of RM10 to activate your MAE.

Step #5. MAE registration complete

After you complete the registration form, a strange screen like above will be shown. There is no success message or button for you to tap.

Don't panic though, you can try to exit or shut down the Maybank app, then relaunch the app and login again.

For your peace of mind, you should have received an SMS notification and welcome email like above, to confirm your registration.

How to top-up Maybank MAE balance?

Step #1. Go to Accounts home screen

Go to the "Accounts" home screen, MAE is listed as a new account separated from your savings or current account. You can tap on the "M" icon at the bottom-right to proceed.

While it is a good idea to split and cap the expenditure account, you need to get used to your e-wallet getting mixed with the banking accounts in the same app.

Step #2. Select "+ Money In"

The user experience is not perfect here, look out for the "+ Money In" at the bottom of the screen and tap to top-up your MAE balance.

Tips: Don't forget to play the mini-game to win some balance to start with.

Step #3. Select "Top-up Wallet"

There are 4 options to add fund to your MAE balance:

Top up wallet
Split bill
Request money
MY QR

Here, we are going to select "Top-up wallet" to proceed.

Step #4. Select the account to top-up

If you are an existing Maybank customer, you can select any of your savings or current account as the funding source to top-up your e-wallet.

Step #5. Enter top-up amount

Just enter the top-up amount to proceed, we are not sure yet what is the threshold allowed but you can only enter a maximum of RM9,999 here.

Step #6. MAE top-up success

This is better than the registration success screen earlier, with a clear message that your top-up has been successful.

Maybank MAE Merchants' Promotions

So what's next? The first question that springs to most users' mind will be, "show me the discount!"

While there are more than 200K+ merchants accepting Maybank QRPay at the moment, you can check out the list of offers available in the promotions page.

Feel free to share your experience using Maybank MAE in the comments below.

The e-wallet infinity war in Malaysia - Everything you need to know about e-wallet starts here...

2018-12-12T20:05:00.000+08:00

This article requires 15-30 minutes read, you can also check this e-wallet Malaysia infographic for easy-to-digest and quick understanding of e-wallet landscape in Malaysia.

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Table of Contents

The dawn of the e-wallet infinity war
Does e-wallet provider need a license in Malaysia?
What is BNM's policy on e-wallet?
Who are the e-wallet providers in Malaysia?
Which e-wallet providers will stay in the long run?
Will Malaysians use e-wallet?
Understanding e-wallet 1-2-3
Why should retailers & etailers care?
How to differentiate Static vs Dynamic QR payment?
Who will win: network-based or card-based e-wallet?

#1. The dawn of the e-wallet infinity war

The Malaysia e-wallet Infinity War has just begun

If you have to name one emerging trend in digital and e-commerce space here in Malaysia, in 2018, what would it be? The talk of the town, the key battlefield is definitely e-wallet (or Dompet Digital in Malay language). This is a key development as we foresee it will fulfill its potential to transform not just how consumers transfer money to each other, it will also change how consumers pay for products and services, both offline or online.

Truth to be told, e-wallet is a game of two-sided markets. In order to be successful, e-wallet provider needs to have payment adoption by consumers, and also payment acceptance by merchants, both at massive scale.

Make no mistake, this is going to be a long-term battle which will take years in an attempt to change Malaysia consumer behavior, as we still predominantly a cash society with 80% of our transactions are still done in cash. As far as "cashless" is concerned, we are quite well served by the cards (Visa and Mastercard) considering we have over 52 million credit and debit cards circulated in the market.

For the e-wallet providers, it will require serious war chest to continuously lure consumers to adopt in mass (at the same time, onboard more merchants) until the habit of using e-wallet takes place and naturally becoming part of the consumers' lifestyle.

Up to date, there are already 37 non-bank e-money licenses being issued by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). Unofficially, we were told, a total of 40 over licenses are already issued. However, you will only find e-wallets which have already gone live listed on BNM website (under the E-money issuers category).

So, why does it concern you as a merchant? If you are a merchant selling products to consumers, you will need to evaluate the impacts across these few real-life scenarios.

(i) How consumers will pay offline? (Retail + Data) - You might leave your wallet at home, but you are unlikely to forget your mobile phone. High penetration of smart phone in Malaysia made it a fertile soil for fast growth in mobile payment. One thing is certain, with all the cashless policies by BNM, cash usage will reduce over time, and the adoption of mobile payments will only go up.

(ii) How consumers will pay online? (eCommerce + Data) - Online payment gateway providers like iPay88 and aggregators already start to offer e-wallet as one of the payment options. This allows merchants to accept the e-wallet payment with ease. What's next? We will probably expect tight integration of e-wallet payment into mobile commerce. Just imagine Lazada or Shopee supporting checkout with e-wallet with just your thumbprint or face!

Screenshots of e-wallet payment option supported by iPay88 online payment gateway

(iii) How consumers make payment to each other? (P2P Transfer) - Imagine a scenario where restaurant bills are easily split when we go Dutch, and transfer of small changes (say goodbye to coins) with just a few taps on your mobile. The sending or receiving of money via e-wallet app is way easier and faster than online bank transfer.

(iv) How merchants keep the customers coming back? (Big Data + Loyalty & Rewards) - All this while, most retailers do not know any details of their cash-paying customers. This will change, with the adoption of e-wallet, we foresee more merchants will combine data (a.k.a. the new oil), analytical and loyalty technology to serve their customers better and keep them coming back for more.

#2. Does e-wallet provider need a license in Malaysia?

The more accurate question would be, does e-money provider, need a license in Malaysia? This is because what Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) really regulate, is actually e-money, the digital money that gets stored in the e-wallet.

Let's see how BNM defines e-money.

The Financial Services Act 2013 defines e-money as a payment instrument, whether tangible or intangible, that stores funds electronically in exchange of funds paid to the issuer and is able to be used as a means of making payment to any person other than the issuer.

Therefore, e-money is legally recognized as a valid and enforceable legal tender in Malaysia.

In short, any open-loop e-money provider will require an e-money license by BNM. Open-loop means that the e-money issued by the provider can be spent or transferred to third parties apart from the provider itself.

All e-money licensees are governed by Financial Services Act 2013, Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 and all directives, orders or guidelines issued thereunder including any guidelines issued by BNM.

Note: The Financial Services Act (FSA) and the Islamic Financial Services Act (IFSA) came into force on 30 June 2013, replacing the repealed Payment System Act 2003 (PSA).

E-money is categorized as one of the Payment Instruments (PI) (Source: BNM website)

#3. What is Bank Negara Malaysia policy on e-wallet?

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has set its goal to turn Malaysia into a cashless society.

The main benefits for Malaysia? A cashless society may result in savings amounting up to 1% of a country's economy due to lower retail payment cost versus cash transactions.

Thus, BNM has initiated ICTF (Interoperable Credit Transfer Framework) to spur the next wave of e-payment adoption. It has gone into effect since 1st July 2018

With ICTF, BNM wants to encourage innovation and competition by ensuring both banks and non-banks (e.g. Touch 'n Go eWallet, Boost, WeChat Pay etc) to have a fair and open access to a shared payment infrastructure, which will be operated by Paynet (Payments Network Malaysia, jointly owned by BNM and 11 local banks)

In pursuant to the Framework, PayNet is developing a platform called RPP (Real-time Retail Payments Platform) utilizing the technology solution by ACI network. RPP is the critical component of ICTF to enable interoperability of Inter-Bank Credit Transfer and Inter-Scheme (e-money) Credit Transfer. It basically means, bank and non-banks will be connected on a single payment network, and transfer of money among banks and non-banks will be made possible.

RPP will consist of these 2 elements:

A National Addressing Database (NAD) - A national level database which will link your bank or e-money account to your mobile phone number, your identification number (IC) or your business registration number. This is to enable anyone to transfer money to other parties by just using these easier-to-remember details compared to the bank account number. You can see the first implementation in DuitNow, which is slated to be rolled out by the end of 2018. Once DuitNow is implemented, customers may make payments by accessing DuitNow under the ‘Funds Transfer’ menu of their respective banks’ Internet banking portal or mobile banking app.
An Interoperable QR Scheme and Common QR codes - One of the main challenges now is merchants adopting e-wallet will carry a static, proprietary QR code from respective e-wallet providers. It will become a hassle for merchants to display all the QR codes, and it can be very confusing for the consumers too. To streamline this, banks and qualified e-money issuers are required to a utilize QR code that complies with the interoperable QR code payment scheme set by Paynet. In laymen terms, it means that we can easily transfer money by just using any e-wallet app to scan any 3rd party QR code which is already complied with the Paynet QR standard. The interoperable QR Code scheme will adopt the standard by EMVCo.

What ICTF does for Interoperable QR Payment in the near future?

The benefits are obvious with ICTF, seamless and secure payments between the bank and non-bank (e-money) accounts will become a reality. Furthermore, ICTF policy will also bring down the cost of transaction fee which we are now enjoying. Have you noticed that the fee is already waived for both IBG and Instant Transfer if you transfer RM5000 or less? This will further encourage the usage of e-payment.

In a similar effort to BNM, Singapore government has rolled out SGQR Code. This is slightly different from our BNM approach as MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) enforce only a common QR code (SGQR) to be displayed by the merchant.

However, unlike SGQR, BNM will not enforce a common QR to be displayed by merchants. Merchants will be allowed to display the static QR code by the e-wallet providers, allowing merchants more flexibility as they see fit.

Singapore Education Minister Ong Ye Kung, who is also a board member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), holding a selfie board with the 27 payment schemes onboard on SGQR (Source: MAS Twitter)

If you wish to learn more about what BNM is doing to drive Malaysia towards a cashless society, listen to Tan Nyat Chuan, Director of Payment Systems Policy, Bank Negara Malaysia.

Some BNM goals and its numbers to put you in perspective:

BNM intends to increase the number of card terminals from fewer than 300,000 to 800,000 “chip-and-pin” in 2020 and one billion debit transactions by 2020.
To increase the number of machines from 8 to 25 POS terminals per 1,000 capita by 2020 (to accept debit, credit and prepaid cards)
Bring down the usage of cheques from 200 million to 100 million.

#4. Who are the e-wallet providers in Malaysia?

Let's first investigate how many e-money licenses have BNM granted so far? The answer is 42 e-money licenses at the time of publishing - 5 banks, and 37 non-banks.

We are expecting a few more e-money issuers, notably Telekom Malaysia and MyEG which had announced the intention to join the e-wallet bandwagon.

On another hand, we have witnessed Payfy (by Astro) and Setel (by Petronas Dagangan) launching their own e-wallets app. We think these two are interesting ones to monitor even both remain close-loop for now. Obviously, Payfy is able to tap on Astro's 3.3 million subscribers base, and we foresee it will be tightly integrated to its Astro Go Shop (TV Shopping).

How about Setel? It is the first e-wallet app integrated with (Petronas) fuel pumps in Southeast Asia, allowing you to pay for fuel without even leaving the car. Setel aims to cover all the 1,045+ Petronas stations by the end of 2019. It also supports linking to Petronas Mesra Cards (with more than 7 million circulations in Malaysia) and features like converting the Mesra points to e-money are already in the roadmap.

eCommerce marketplaces have also launched a similar "e-wallet" feature in their app, namely Lazada Wallet and we foresee Shopee will launch its own e-wallet dubbed AirPay in 2019.

We list down below the full list of e-money issuers licensed by BNM in Malaysia and its related e-wallet products. A logo will only be displayed for issuers with an e-wallet app that has gone live (which you can download and use).

E-money Issuers (Banks) - Total 5

Banks	Products
AmBank (M) Berhad	Prepaid Card (MasterCard)
Bank of China (M) Berhad	Prepaid Card (China Union Pay)
CIMB Bank Berhad	Prepaid Card (MasterCard) CIMB Pay
Malayan Banking Berhad	Prepaid Card (Visa) Maybank Pay Maybank QR Pay
RHB Bank Berhad	Prepaid Card (Visa)

E-money Issuers (Non-Banks) - Total 37

Non-Banks	Products
AEON Credit Services (M) Berhad	AEON e-wallet
Alipay Malaysia Sdn Bhd (formerly known as helloPay Malaysia Sdn Bhd)	Alipay - Enable merchants in Malaysia to accept payment from Chinese tourists.
Axiata Digital eCode Sdn. Bhd.	Boost e-wallet
Bandar Utama City Centre Sdn. Bhd.	ONECARD
BigPay Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.	BigPay e-wallet
Celcom eCommerce Sdn. Bhd. (formerly known as Celcom Multimedia (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.)	N/A
DIV Services Sdn Bhd (formerly known as ePetrol Services Sdn Bhd)	Whatlet.com.my - Card for school
Fass Payment Solutions Sdn. Bhd.	Fasspay e-wallet
Finexus Cards Sdn. Bhd. (formerly known as MAA Cards Sdn. Bhd.)	Kedah Pay (State-driven initiative) Has not gone live yet.
Fullrich Malaysia Sdn Bhd	TaPay e-wallet
GPay Network (M) Sdn Bhd	GrabPay e-wallet
Ipay88 (M) Sdn Bhd	White label e-wallet solutions to partners who provide wallet solutions for their community / vertical etc.
I-serve Payment Gateway Sdn Bhd	Upay
JuruQuest Consulting Sdn Bhd	QBpay e-wallet
ManagePay Services Sdn. Bhd.	MPay e-wallet
Maxis Broadband Sdn. Bhd.	Maxis Pay
Merchantrade Asia Sdn Bhd	Merchantrade Money e-wallet
Mobile Money International Sdn. Bhd.	Mobile Money
MobilityOne Sdn Bhd	One Pay (for agents, bill payment, reload providers)
MOL AccessPortal Sdn. Bhd.	Razer Pay e-wallet (Formerly known as One2Pay)
MRuncit Commerce Sdn. Bhd.	MCash e-wallet
Numoni DFS Sdn. Bhd. (formerly known as Com2U Sdn. Bhd.)	NAPP - Money Transfer App
PayPal Pte. Ltd.	PayPal
Petron Fuel International Sdn. Bhd.	Petron Fleet Card
Presto Pay Sdn Bhd (formerly known as EPP Solutions Sdn Bhd)	Presto e-wallet
Raffcomm Sdn. Bhd.	HotWallet e-wallet
Shell Malaysia Trading Sdn. Bhd.	Shell Fleet Card
SiliconNet Technologies Sdn. Bhd.	Sarawak Pay e-wallet (State-driven initiative)
Silverlake Global Payments Sdn. Bhd.	UTAR Silver Card
SMJ Teratai Sdn Bhd	eWang e-wallet
Touch 'n Go Sdn. Bhd.	Touch 'n Go Card
TNG Digital Sdn Bhd	Touch 'n Go eWallet
Valyou Sdn. Bhd.	Vcash e-wallet
WeChat Pay Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.	WeChat Pay e-wallet
Webonline Dot Com Sdn. Bhd.	KiplePay e-wallet
XOX Com Sdn. Bhd	MyXOX

#5. Which e-wallet providers will stay in the long run?

Who will end up with the last laugh? While it is way too early to tell, however, in our opinion, those with millions of existing user base will have a serious edge in the e-wallet infinity war.

Among the e-money issuers, there are a few 800-pound gorillas in the race, namely Touch 'n Go Digital (a joint venture between Alipay and Touch 'n Go), WeChat Pay (Tencent Group), GrabPay, Boost (Axiata), BigPay (75% owned by AirAsia), and AEON Wallet (AEON Group). All these providers have access to an existing user base in the millions, not to mention the technology and financial muscles they can wield.

Let's summarize below why these gorillas "roar" in the battle against cash:

AEON Wallet - AEON is one of the largest retail groups in Malaysia with millions of existing AEON members in its RM12-per-year paid loyalty program. The new e-wallet that ties to a Visa Prepaid Card is developed by AEON Credit Service. They are aggressively recruiting users via all the brick-and-mortar outlets. Self-checkout at stores using AEON Wallet could be in the pipeline too.
Boost - A homegrown (by Axiata Group) network based e-wallet provider that started from scratch and now boosted with 3.3 million registered users, 50,000 touch points and supported by 10,000 cab drivers. Boost is arguably one of the most aggressive in marketing with users loving its shake rewards for each transaction made. Boost announced a partnership with UnionPay International (UPI) in July 2018 and soon its users will be able to make payment to any merchants accepting UnionPay cards.
BigPay - BigPay (Rebranded from Tune Card) is the cashless push by AirAsia Bhd, who owns 75% of BigPay. The famous, high-profile AirAsia Group CEO, Tony Fernandez claimed that one day, BigPay will worth more than AirAsia. BigPay partners with Mastercard and it will tap into AirAsia's 63 million customers base to expand its usage.
GrabPay - Grab needs no introduction, every 1 out of 2 smartphones in Malaysia are installed with Grab. Not content with just ride-hailing, its ambition is to become the WeChat-like super-app of Southeast Asia, and GrabPay e-wallet is an integral part of the strategy. Backed by 120 million downloads across Southeast Asia, it recently also announced a partnership with Mastercard which will link a Mastercard Prepaid Card to GrabPay.
Touch 'n Go eWallet - All Malaysians know Touch 'n Go - the de-facto cashless payment for our road tolls. The new e-wallet venture is a joint venture between Touch 'n Go and Ant Financial (Alibaba). TNG has recently announced surpassing 1 million users and they have an edge in branding and also accessibility in public transportation use case such as toll, parking, bus payment etc.
WeChat Pay - WeChat claimed that there are 20 million WeChat users in Malaysia, and Malaysia is the first country outside of China to have obtained an e-money license. Unlike Alibaba who prefer a strategy to form JV with local players, WeChat Pay directly setup and operate in Malaysia by partnering with a number of merchant acquirers such as Hong Leong Bank, MOL Pay, iPay88 and Revenue Monster. With CNY 2019 around the corner, will WeChat replicate its China "red packet" (a.k.a angpow) strategy in Malaysia to boost its user acquisition?

#6. Will Malaysians use e-wallet?

The million dollar question is, "In a 31 million population market which is already very well-served by online banking, debit card, and credit cards, why would we care about e-wallet? "

Cards, are cashless payment too. If we refer to the latest statistic published by BNM, there are currently 10.3 million credit cards and 42.1 million debit cards circulating in Malaysia.

So, will the consumers even care to adopt e-wallet?

Old habits die hard. If you take a look at the United States, e-wallet is not the mainstream, they don’t use it actively for in-store purchase nor person-to-person (P2P) transfer. This is because it is a market already well-served by credit and debit cards, just like Malaysia.

Even for Google Wallet or Apple Pay, both are actually just an e-wallet app that stores your credit or debit card details (as tokens) in the app to use it for payment. Industry call this "Pass-Through", and technically, they are riding on existing card scheme networks, not creating something from scratch like Boost or WeChat Pay.

According to a survey by Statistica, here are the top reasons why US consumers are not adopting e-wallet, will the same thing happen in Malaysia?

It is fair to say that the whole world is bench-marking China on e-wallet, as it enjoys massive success in e-wallet adoption, primarily due to the market is under-served by card network. You might want to understand why credit card adoption has been slow in China by referring to this Quora article.

China Mobile Payment (covering wholesale, retail, online, offline, P2P etc) is larger than the China GDP (Source: Kai-Fu Lee Ted Talk)

Let's go "small picture" by taking a look at real-life scenarios. Not long ago, my father just asked me, why he need to use e-wallet when he already got his credit cards?

Obviously, he doesn't see a need for that, unless, if there are some exclusive e-wallet deals which he can only enjoy by using the e-wallet. Even so, will the behavior of using e-wallet stick after that?

There is a mamak restaurant I frequented which accepts e-wallet payment. The staffs shared that their e-wallet transaction is now averaging about RM200 plus daily, RM500 plus on a peak day. Majority of the users are students (young people aged between 18 and 22) and some bank officers too.

As you can see, what my father thinks about e-wallet does not matter that much really. Why is it so?

This is because what the market tells you matters the most, especially for consumer-facing businesses (e-wallet, e-commerce, e-hailing etc), young people adoption is an early sign that it might actually... work!

And once the millennial adopt it, they will teach the elder how to use it.

"We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten" Bill Gates, Microsoft Co-founder

What, and how long will it take to change the consumers status quo?

In the longer run, it will work. This is especially true for any nation with a large number of young generation that grows up with mobile Internet. We are positive that in less than 5 years time, the young generations who grow up with the Internet will adopt it.

If you look at China, WeChat Pay was introduced in 2013, the adoption wasn't successful right from the start. Not everyone is using WeChat Pay "just like that" after the initial launch. The moment of truth came at a price tag of USD80 million when they launched their red packet (Hong Bao 红包) features during 2014. This had bolstered their way to massive consumers adoption, from 30 to 100 million WeChat Pay user within a month (out of 400 million WeChat users back then).

Besides, the latest BNM's data reported about 42.8 million mobile phone subscriptions (~70% smartphones) in the country, a pretty ripe environment ready for the growth of e-wallet ecosystem.

How about the merchants? Most of them will go with the flow and support e-wallets with huge user base. For example, KK Super Mart is a good case study for fellow merchants to benchmark. This Malaysia-based convenience store with around 350 stores nationwide, is arguably the most aggressive merchant in Malaysia that adopt and promote e-wallet to its customers.

KK Super Mart, reaping the benefits of acquiring new customers by working closely with e-wallet providers (Source: Revenue Monster FB Page)

#7. Understanding e-wallet 1-2-3

What is e-wallet? What is e-money?

People are always confused with these 2 terms, is e-wallet also e-money?

Imagine your own wallet (dompet in Malay) - you keep your Identity Card (IC), debit card, prepaid card, credit card, loyalty card, personal photo, receipts etc in your wallet.

E-wallet is like the digital equivalent of your real-world physical wallet, just that it appears as an app in your smartphone.

In many ways, it mimics your physical wallet, where you store your money, credit card, debit card, or prepaid card details (some use Tokenization technology) inside the digital wallet. On top of that, e-wallets usually offer features built-in like loyalty, bill payment, parking payment, voucher purchase etc to make it useful and convenient for the consumers.

As for e-money? It is like our money in either coins or notes, just that it appears as digital numbers inside an e-wallet, where the value is stored on the network (cloud).

This is how Bank Negara Malaysia defines e-money:

Electronic money (e-money) is a payment instrument that contains monetary value that is paid in advance by the user to the e-money issuer. The user of e-money can make payments for purchases of goods and services to merchants who accept the e-money as payment.

E-money can be issued in different forms, such as card-based (e.g. prepaid card) and network-based which can be accessible via the internet, mobile phones or any other devices.

There are two types of e-money schemes, i.e. small scheme and large scheme, which is determined by the purse size and the outstanding e-money liabilities.

As you can see, there is a difference between e-wallet and e-money. However, since most e-money issuers provide their own version of e-wallet app, all can be categorized as e-wallet providers for the sake of simplicity.

Only e-wallet providers who issue e-money which can be used with multiple merchants (technically known as "open-loop"), will require an e-money license from Bank Negara Malaysia.

How many types of e-wallets are there?

In general, there are 2 types of open-loop e-wallet:

Network-based e-wallet - Network-based e-wallet "stores" digital money on the cloud, for example Boost, WeChat Pay etc. They are not tied to any card network like Visa, Mastercard or UnionPay International.
Card-based e-wallet - Card-based e-wallet is riding on existing card network, for example BigPay, which ties to Mastercard Prepaid Card, or AEON Wallet, which ties to Visa Prepaid Card.

Many have mistaken Fave and Samsung Pay as e-money issuers. Technically, both of them can only be perceived as mobile payment app that facilitates reward program such as cashback, discount etc.

As you can use Fave or Samsung Pay to pay third-party merchants (open-loop), you cannot top-up balance with cash or cards. However, they allow you to link your existing credit or debit card. When you make payment, it will trigger a charge to your card - a "Pass Through" in industry terms.

Types of e-wallet in Malaysia (click to enlarge)

What are the must-have features for e-wallet?

Based on the technology availability and trends, a full-fledged, fully functional e-wallet has to fulfill a list of criteria listed below:

It has to be available as an app for both Android and iOS (Apple).
It must allow you to top-up the balance, via online banking, debit card, credit card, or cash.
It must allow you to do a Personal to Personal (P2P) transfer.
It must allow you to scan a static QR code by the merchant to make payment.
It must be made available to all the consumers (mass market).
It must already be accepted by merchants (physical brick & mortar or online).
It must be an open-loop - support payments to third-party merchants.
It must obtain the e-Money Issuers License from BNM.

Stay tuned as we are going to cover each e-wallet provider with an in-depth review.

#8. Why should retailers or e-tailers care?

It’s still very early in the game, yet, some of the benefits for merchants are quite obvious. The early bird gets the worm, so the early merchant gets the bonuses.

Firstly, e-wallet providers offer a lower transaction cost vs credit card, usually 1.2% or below, with some introducing zero transaction fee to encourage merchant's adoption.

Secondly, the lesser cash transaction, the lesser hassle in handling loose change, especially the coins.

Thirdly, it will be more secured and speedier with less human error when it comes to the account closing at the end of the day.

Fourth, DATA!!! You might not know anything about your cash-paying customers, but you will start to know them via e-wallet starting with their name, and more depends on the e-wallet features.

Last but not the least, early adopters will reap marketing benefits by working hand-in-hand with well-funded e-wallet provider. This will benefit you greatly to acquire new customers or even encourage existing customers to come back and spend more.

E-wallet payment options like Razer Pay (previously known as One2Pay) is integrated into 7-eleven POS system.

#9. How to differentiate Static vs Dynamic QR payment?

In fact, there are 3 types of QR payments mode:

(i) Static QR by Merchant - Customers to scan the QR code displayed by merchants, enter the amount to pay, and then authorize the payment. There are a couple of steps for the customers but this is the easiest for the merchants to adopt as it doesn't require any integration with the POS system.

(ii) Dynamic QR by Merchant - The dynamic QR code is generated by merchants, with the amount stated. Customers just need to scan and pay, without the need of entering the amount to pay.

(iii) Dynamic QR by Customer - Customers to authorize the QR code to be shown on the app for merchants to scan. Similar with above, customers don't need to enter the amount to pay.

#10. Who will win: network-based or card-based e-wallet?

Who is leading the race right now? From the data announced publicly, Boost has 3.3 million registered users, while Touch 'n Go eWallet just celebrated its first million registered users.

Both above are network-based e-wallet.

But will Malaysia with a society already so familiar with card usage, namely Visa and Mastercard, witness card-based e-wallet (hybrid) dominating the market in the future? Obviously, both the card scheme giants will not want to be left out of the mobile payment scene.

Let's take a look at the companies which have already launched card-based e-wallets in Malaysia.

We have AEON Wallet which is riding on Visa Prepaid Card, the e-wallet (and card) can be used in AEON, AEON BIG, AEON Wellness etc. This hybrid model also adopted by BigPay (Mastercard), Merchantrade Money (Visa), MPay Walet (Mastercard), soon to be followed by GrabPay (Mastercard) and also Boost (UnionPay International, a subsidiary of China Union Pay, CUP).

When card-based e-wallet providers work with Visa, Mastercard or UnionPay International, their payment products are instantly available to all the existing, card-accepting merchants, without the need to go through the time-consuming merchant acquisition and onboarding process. It will also make cross-countries remittance easier, faster as they are powered by the card scheme infrastructure.

However, network-based e-wallets providers would argue, that consumers do not want to carry their physical wallets or cards in the future.

The real enemies for adoption are 2Cs - Cash and Consumer Behaviors.

Of course, it will take a lot more to win the heart of consumers. The fact is, most consumers don't care whether the e-wallet is linked to a card or not! Consumers just want something fast, secure, simple, intuitive, convenient, cheap, and solve their day-to-day problem. One good example is a feature (pioneered by MCash e-wallet) which let us easily pay for DBKL parking via the e-wallet app.

MCash e-wallet pioneered the "Pay-for-Parking" feature - such feature solves real pain points of the consumer, something people would use without much incentive (subsidization)

The holy grail for all e-wallets is to become the super-app, the lifestyle app for consumers. Once the mass stick to a particular e-wallet, we will know by then who holds the trump card.

Given time, we believe e-wallet will forever transform the retail and e-commerce landscape. Whoever wins, Malaysia in charting a new course to the cashless era.

Interested to know more and following up on the trends and insights for e-wallet? Join the e-wallet Malaysia FB group by ecInsider now!

The evolution of the classified ads: From newspaper, Internet forums to mobile-first & AI-first

2018-12-10T09:00:00.000+08:00

If you wanted to buy a car or property 30 years ago, the most common way to do that would be by browsing newspapers like The Star or Malay Mail's classifieds section until something caught your eye.

For those who remember, after finding something interesting you'd typically call the phone number provided or visit the seller to complete the purchase.

With a wide circulation of newspapers back in the day, buying a classifieds ad in print was the most effective way to garner interest. As a result, classifieds were a major revenue stream for newspapers, making up as much as 40% of revenue, and driving readership.

However, from the time you decided to sell something, to getting your ad in the papers, to even closing a sale was a slow and tedious process, and it was just a matter of time before someone would reinvent the market.

Classifieds and the Internet

By the late 80s to 90s, the Internet and personal computing were gaining traction around the world and revolutionizing industries, including the classifieds industry. Suddenly, a single classifieds ad could reach millions more eyeballs than any newspaper could. Websites, such as eBay and Craigslist, created online classifieds that would change the internet forever.

Craigslist was created with the basic buy and sell concept, where users would simply pay the listed price. Meanwhile, eBay took a different approach, pioneering an auction system where, users who love the idea of bargain hunting or selling their collectibles and antiques for higher prices could interact.

With the advent of the Internet, the Craigslists and eBays of the world began to eat into margins of newspaper classifieds. According to Forbes, the Management Science Journal predicted that from 2000 to 2007, Craigslist alone cost US newspapers USD5 billion in revenue and shrank their classified ad rates by 20.7%.

What's the big deal?

Evolving with the technological revolution, the classifieds industry continues to be a high-growth market across the world, as more people become comfortable with technology, and the Internet unlocking connectivity all over the world.

As we saw how print adapted to the Internet historically, in the past 10 years, we've been witnessing yet another technological leap and disruption. With the introduction of the smartphone and mobile internet, this brought hitherto unprecedented accessibility around the globe. And resulted in an explosion of mobile-based apps looking to take advantage of this connectivity and accessibility.

Mobile is undoubtedly a key driver of the classified business, especially as companies look to expand their markets and attract new users.

The new technology and its impact on user behaviour have also forced many incumbent classified businesses, even those early adopters to the Internet to adapt again. The industry is now led by app-based marketplaces with more customers accessing classified portals from their mobile phones than their desktops.

In 2012, Carousell introduced a mobile-first approach to classifieds, marking the third technology iteration of the industry.

Instead of having to turn to online forums to sell their pre-loved items, users could simply use their phones to snap a photo, add in a description and price to start selling their goods in just 30 seconds. Both the buying and selling process leveraged the native smartphone experience of taking photos and messaging.

Mobile-first to AI-first

Now just six years in, Carousell is already looking at how it can revamp its classifieds experience with the latest technology. Recent innovation and data collection have resulted in the proliferation of artificial intelligence and machine learning tools.

These tools are designed to inform and help us make decisions better and faster by leveraging data collected about our online behaviour. We already see the impact in the AI features built into the e-commerce experience, such as recommendations for similar items when we make a purchase.

With this AI-first concept, Carousell intends to push its marketplace platform towards a "smart, convenient, community"-focused model, and pioneer a fourth technology revolution in classifieds.

Quek Siu Rui, Carousell's co-founder and CEO shared at Tech in Asia Singapore 2017 that the company envisions to reduce the time taken for users to list an item - from 30 to only three seconds.

With a presence in seven markets and almost 160 million listings globally, Carousell has already begun to leverage its sizable datasets to develop machine learning features that help its users list, sell, and buy items more easily.

The first AI powered feature suggests titles and categories for users' listings, based on the images that they upload.

The buying experience is enhanced with features such as in-app chat reply, recommender and search system, whereas spam and bad actors are sought and weeded out.

Carousell aims to continue augmenting their marketplace with more artificial intelligence features, such as pricing suggestions, visual suggestions and more.

Imagine how the process of selling that began in newspapers 30 years ago and took more than a day's turnaround could eventually be shortened to just seconds.

"Our platform and tools are a means of bringing the people together making real connections. Building it takes work on a daily basis where we constantly find ways to create new tools to continue the evolution with positive experiences. As much work as it may take, the benefits outweigh the effort, so we believe the future the industry is truly bright," said Tang Siew Wai, Country Head of Carousell Malaysia.

The shape of things to come

Reaching out to the next generation of consumers is a perennial question companies and industries always ask. The always-connected millenials looking for convenience, is no exception. As such, digital platforms and classified sites must continue to adapt and offer the same exceptional experience no matter the screen and device they are engaging from.

As history shows us, the functionality of the platform, whether it be a website, mobile or an application together with an engaging user experience, remain key components for success in the classifieds business.

Top 10 brands & products Malaysians bought from Tmall during the Singles' Day

2018-11-19T08:00:00.000+08:00

In case if you miss our previous article on Alibaba's top export countries during the Double Eleven, Malaysia ranks #5 after Hong Kong, Taiwan, USA and Australia.

According to the post-campaign results, there were a total of 7.5 million items ordered from Southeast Asia during this year's Singles' Day.

In terms of the number of online shoppers, 1 out of 7 Chinese in Malaysia visited Tmall, and it is 1 out of 4 Chinese in Singapore!

So, what kind of products Malaysians buy all the way from China? Do check out the two charts below on the popular brands and products Malaysians bought from Tmall during the Double Eleven.

The star product is robot vacuum, with 1,600 pieces bought from Malaysia, amount total to more than RM900K (RMB1.5 million)!

Top 10 popular brands Malaysians love on Tmall

Nan Ji Ren 南极人 (Fashion)
Bear 小熊 (Kitchen Appliance)
Midea 美的 (Home Appliance)
Li-Ning 李宁 (Sports / Fashion)
Baseus 倍思 (Mobile Accessories)
Deli 得力 (Stationary)
Bejirog 北极绒 (Fashion / Lifestyle)
Huawei 华为 (Consumer Electronics)
Three Squirrels 三只松鼠 (Snacks)
Joyoung 九阳 (Kitchen Appliance)

Top 10 products Malaysians purchased from Tmall

Xiaomi Robot Vacuum 小米扫地机器人
Ecovacs Robot Vacuum 科沃斯扫地机器人
Debea Vacuum Cleaner 地贝吸尘器
iPhone XR
Xiaomi Air Purifier 小米米家空气净化器
E-Sports PC Gaming Chair 眷念电脑椅
Pineng Power Bank 品能充电宝
XGIMI Smart LED Home Projector 极米无屏电视投影仪
Huawei Mate 20 Pro 华为Mate 20 Pro
360 Car Recorder 360行程记录仪

This article is translated, illustrated & reproduced from cifnews, header image credits Xuan.

Alibaba's top 7 export countries during the Singles' Day

2018-11-16T11:00:00.000+08:00

So Alibaba has announced a total GMV of USD$30.8 billion during this year's Double Eleven sale, another year, another record.

This is not only in China, as Alibaba aims to take this flagship campaign of theirs to the global stage, especially those countries with huge Chinese populations.

In this article, we are going to share with you which are the top export countries for Alibaba's AliExpress (the English version) and Tmall (the Chinese version).

AliExpress & Tmall Top 7 Export Countries

As you can see above, these are the top 7 countries who bought from AliExpress and Tmall:

Hong Kong
Taiwan
U.S.A.
Australia
Malaysia
Singapore
Canada

By looking at the country list above, it is quite obvious that the majority of the shoppers were overseas Chinese.

Read also: Top 10 brands & products Malaysians bought from Tmall during the Singles' Day

Besides Hong Kong and Taiwan in the list above (which are technically under the territories of China), there are more than 50 million Chinese diasporas all over the world:

Thailand: 10.3M+ Chinese populations
Malaysia: 6.6M+ Chinese populations
U.S.A.: 5.0M+ Chinese populations
Indonesia: 2.8M+ Chinese populations
Singapore: 2.5M+ Chinese populations
Canada: 1.7M+ Chinese populations
South Korea: 1.6M+ Chinese populations
Myanmar: 1.6M+ Chinese populations
Philippines: 1.3M+ Chinese populations
Australia: 1.2M+ Chinese populations

Malaysia, U.S.A., Singapore and Canada are all in the top 7 list, while Thailand and Indonesia even with their huge Chinese populations, aren't as fond of Alibaba's Double Eleven.

This could be due to the Chinese populations in these two countries are more localized and many of them no longer communicate in the Chinese language.

Since AliExpress is catered mostly for the English-speaking audience, we can safely assume that a big chunk of the exports is done via Tmall's Chinese website.

Alibaba's global march starts with overseas Chinese, would it be able to really penetrate the non-Chinese base? Only time can tell.

Data in this article is sourced from cifnews.

AEON Wallet Malaysia: How to sign-up, enable & top-up card balance?

2018-11-13T08:00:00.000+08:00

Just when you think that we have too many e-wallets in the market, AEON has launched its own e-wallet which is running on the card scheme network.

To be exact, AEON Credit Service is releasing a new card - AEON Member Plus Visa Card. The AEON Wallet launched is technically, just a mobile app to store the prepaid card.

So, AEON Wallet is a "card-based" e-wallet, not "network-based" e-wallets like WeChat Pay, Boost which are able to function without a prepaid card via the Visa or Mastercard network.

For those who aren't familiar with "card-based" e-wallet, you can't just register via the app and start using it. You need to actually apply for a prepaid Visa or Mastercard in order to use the e-wallet.

Technical terms aside, this is an attractive combo for the consumers as the loyalty point system for all the stores under AEON Group is finally unified:

AEON Stores
AEON BiG Hypermarkets
AEON Wellness
AEON MaxValu Prime
AEON MaxValu

This offers great convenience which means you no longer need to carry a separate AEON member and AEON BiG member card in your wallet anymore!

Furthermore, you can collect double AEON points when you tap and pay using AEON Wallet or the prepaid card itself (which is more likely to be the preferred payment mode instead of the app).

In a sentence, AEON Wallet is a prepaid card plus loyalty card (system) linked together in a mobile app.

Read on to find out how to sign-up, enable and top-up AEON Wallet, scroll to the end as we wrap-up with 5 fees you need to know about AEON Wallet.

AEON Wallet Home Screen

You can search for "AEON Wallet" on Google Play or App Store and install the app.

Once it is installed, fire up the app and home screen like above will be shown.

Tap on "Sign Up" to proceed.

Are you an existing AEON Credit Service cardholder?

The AEON Wallet app will prompt you: Are you an existing ACS cardholder?

Don't be confused with "ACS", which means AEON Credit Service, the card issuer for AEON Member Plus Card.

Yes, it is a prepaid Visa card required before you can use AEON Wallet.

Click "Yes" if you have already registered for the card, and jump straight to the "How to sign-up for AEON Wallet?" section.

Click "No" if you haven't got the card yet, and go on to the next section.

Apply for AEON Member Plus Card

If you select "No" earlier, the screen above will be prompted.

Tap on "Find Out More", and the app will link to the screen below, the information is actually loaded from the AEON Member Plus Card website.

How to Apply for AEON Member Plus Card?

At the moment, you can't apply for AEON Member Plus Card online, the application can only be done offline at AEON card kiosks.

Since this is a prepaid card, the card application requirements are quite loose:

Minimum age: Applicant MUST be a minimum 15 years of age. For applicants between 15-17 years of age, parent/guardian consent MUST be obtained.
Minimum annual income: No income requirement
Documents Required: Copy of NRIC both sides for Malaysian, only Japanese and Singaporean are accepted for Non-Malaysian.

Take note that you will be given a physical prepaid card too upon successful registration.

How to sign-up for AEON Wallet?

If you select "Yes" in the "Are you an existing ACS cardholder?" step earlier, the screen above will be prompted.

A reminder again, you need to have the prepaid card ready before proceeding here.

Enter your NRIC or personal identification number and tap "Continue".

Sign-up Step #1: Create Passcode

Create a 6 digits passcode for the AEON Wallet.

Not too sure whether this has to be the same with the 6-digits you entered during the card application, which will be used for your card transaction verification.

Nevertheless, this passcode will be required the next time you launch the AEON Wallet.

Sign-up Step #2: Enter OTP

An SMS with a 6-digits OTP will be sent to the mobile number you registered earlier during the card application.

Enter the 6-digits OTP and continue.

Sign-up Step #3: Success

You have now successfully sign-up for AEON Wallet, but you are not done yet.

Continue reading as you need to enable the AEON Card first before using AEON Wallet.

p/s: The anti-phishing image is a bit odd though, as it cannot be customized to your own preference.

How to enable AEON Card?

Once you have signed-up for AEON Wallet, you will be prompted the Cards home screen like above.

You will need to tap on "Enable Card" to view details and make mobile payments.

Enable AEON Card Step #1: Enter CVV2 or CVC2

Remember the physical prepaid card given to you upon successful registration? Refer to the back of the card on the 3 digits number.

Enter the CVV2 / CVC2 number to proceed.

Enable AEON Card Step #2: Enter OTP

Again, an SMS with a 6-digits OTP will be sent to the mobile number you registered earlier during the card application.

Enter the 6-digits OTP and continue.

Enable AEON Card Step #3: Success

Hooray! You have now successfully enabled your card for mobile payments.

How to top-up AEON Wallet Card Balance?

After your card is enabled, your Cards home screen will look like above. Your available balance for both the card and AEON Point will be shown.

Tap on "Select an Action" to continue.

Top-up AEON Card Step #1: Select Top Up Card

You will be prompted with a menu like above, tap on "Top Up Card" to proceed.

Top-up AEON Card Step #2: Enter Amount

Enter an amount to proceed:

Minimum RM10
Maximum RM3,000 *

* The official top-up amount allowed is RM10,000, but only RM3,000 can pass through via the mobile app according to our test.

The total wallet size allowed is up to RM10,000, or RM1,500 if you are between 15 to 17 years old.

Top-up AEON Card Step #3: Choose a Bank

Select a bank to top-up your balance, you can currently choose from the following banks:

Affin Bank
Alliance Bank
AmBank
Bank Islam
Bank Muamalat
Bank Rakyat
BSN
CIMB Bank
Hong Leong Bank
HSBC
KFH
Maybank
OCBC Bank
Public Bank
RHB Bank
Standard Chartered Bank
UOB

In our case, we are using Maybank to perform the top-up.

Top-up AEON Card Step #4: Bank Login

Top-up AEON Card Step #5: FPX Transfer

Choose your bank account (if you have multiple accounts) to perform the transfer.

Follow the instructions of your bank to complete the transaction. In Maybank's case, the last button to tap on is "Return to FPX".

Top-up AEON Card Step #6: Success

Yay! You have successfully top-up your AEON Wallet balance!

AEON Wallet: Show Member Card

The beauty of this AEON Wallet app is you no longer need to bring your AEON cards along when you go shopping.

Just select "Show Member Card" from the menu and barcode like above will be displayed. Show barcode at checkout counter before items are scanned to log your loyalty points.

AEON Wallet: View Transactions

Select "View Transactions" from the menu, and you can check all your transaction history including top-up and spendings.

5 fees you need to know about AEON Wallet

#1. Joining fee is waived.

#2. Annual fee of RM12.
(waived upon annual spending of RM4,000 and above in all AEON Retailer Outlets)

#3. Top-up channels & fees:

AEON Credit Service cash deposit machine: No Charges
AEON Stores, AEON BiG Hypermarkets, AEON MaxValu, AEON MaxValu Prime and AEON Wellness Cashier Counter: No Charges
AEON Wallet Online Banking: No Charges
Other banks’ online banking and cash deposit machine: ranging from RM0.50 to RM1.50 per transaction

#4. The maximum top-up amount for customers above 18 years of age and below 18 years of age is RM10,000 and RM1,500 respectively.

#5. ATM withdrawal fees:

AEON Credit ATM: No Charges
Other banks’ ATM / PLUS Network: RM10 per transaction

Alipay: Malaysia ranks 7th in the world's fastest growing e-wallet destinations

2018-10-09T08:00:00.000+08:00

Cashless is becoming a buzzword nowadays even though the credit card was "invented" back in 1950, during when a New York businessman Frank McNamara started Diners Club.

However, cashless seems to be a word "owned" by e-wallet now, overshadowing credit or debit card. In short, e-wallet is a mobile app installed on your smartphone with a virtual balance to pay the merchants.

When you are paying at point-of-sale nowadays, it is hard to miss the "pay with brand x e-wallet" POSM, sometimes a couple of them within the same cash register!

One of the prominent ones, Alipay (支付宝) is spotted frequently at the airport and tourist spots. While there is equal to almost zero Malaysians using Alipay here, it is meant for tourists from China.

There were 200,000 Chinese nationals spending their holidays in Malaysia during the past Chinese New Year, and over 90% of Chinese tourists would use mobile payment overseas given the option.

Imagine each of the Chinese tourists spends just RM100 on average via e-wallet like Alipay, it sums up to RM18 million over the festive season!

There was another big holiday season recently in China - 十一黄金周 (Golden Week) from 1 to 7 October 2018, during a period when a massive number of Chinese citizens spending their holidays either domestic or overseas.

Prior to the Golden Week, Alipay has released a list of popular destinations by 4 categories:

Top 10 cashless airports in the world
Top 10 cashless shopping districts in the world
Top 10 cashless Chinatowns in the world
Top 10 cashless shopping outlets in the world

While it is unclear the measurement behind but this could be based on Alipay's past historical data, serving as a guideline for outbound Chinese tourists.

Guess what? There are 2 locations in Malaysia featured in the charts so read on!

Top 10 cashless (e-wallet) airports in the world

Hong Kong International Airport
Haneda Airport (Tokyo)
Narita International Airport (Tokyo)
Seoul Incheon Airport
Singapore Changi Airport
Suvarnabhumi Airport (Bangkok)
Don Mueang International Airport (Bangkok)
Kuala Lumpur International Airport
Melbourne Airport
Sydney Airport

Top 10 cashless (e-wallet) Chinatowns in the world

Melbourne, Australia
Sydney, Australia
London, United Kingdom
Toronto, Canada
Chinatown, Singapore
Yaowarat Road, Bangkok
Jalan Alor, Kuala Lumpur
Flushing, Queens, New York
Chicago, United States
San Francisco, United States

While KLIA is kinda expected but Jalan Alor came as a surprise by not just making its entry in the top 10 list, but also being categorized as a Chinatown.

You can read here (in Chinese) on the other two top 10 lists for shopping districts and outlets.

Watch this video on our cashless experience using e-wallet in China

Top 10 fastest growing e-wallet spots in the world

Right after the Golden Week, Alipay has released another updated insights on the top 10 destinations, this time on the fastest growing spots with Alipay transactions.

Bicester Village, United Kingdom
Dōtonbori, Japan
Sydney Airport, Australia
Boulevard Haussmann, France
Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand
Toronto Chinatown, Canada
Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia
The Mall Luxury Outlet, France
Flushing at New York, United States
Myeong-dong at Seoul, South Korea

The e-wallet transactions volume is growing super fast at the top 3 locations above, ranging from 55 to 90 times growth rate! Besides Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, KLIA is the only other destination in Southeast Asia featured in this high-growth chart.

It is still debatable whether we are growing so fast domestically towards a cashless society, but at least for now, accepting payment via Alipay (or WeChat Pay) is a must if you are fronting customers from China.

Online grocery landscape in Malaysia

2018-08-16T09:30:00.000+08:00

Which brick & mortar grocers in Malaysia have gone online? How about pure-play online grocers? What about those online services wrapped around grocery delivery?

For a start, let's compile a list of major grocers in Malaysia and investigate each of their e-commerce initiatives.

So, how do we define whether has a particular grocer done anything online?

It is not all about having an own-branded online store, let's consider three criteria below:

Own store, own branded domain with e-commerce enabled
Collaboration with any eMarketplace in Malaysia
Collaboration with any Concierge & Delivery platform in Malaysia

You can take a quick look at the table below, followed by a compilation of our 7 findings.

List of grocers in Malaysia doing e-commerce

#1. Tesco Malaysia is one of the earliest, if not the earliest grocer here to launch its online store here. If you refer to the e-commerce history of Malaysia, Tesco online store was launched in 2013.

#2. Tesco Malaysia is the most aggressive grocer in Malaysia venturing into e-commerce, having the presences in Lazada & 11street, available via HappyFresh besides its own online store.

#3. Only 3 (Tesco, Mydin, Jaya Grocer) set up their own online store.

#4. Only 3 (Tesco, Giant, Mydin) establish their online presence at e-marketplaces, with Giant and Mydin are both on Shopee.

#5. On the contrary, 7 out of 9 grocers from the list make themselves available online via either HappyFresh or Honestbee.

#6. AEON BIG is the only major grocer on the list without any e-commerce presence yet.

#7. Even though some of them are in the same group of companies, for example, Giant & Cold Storage, AEON & AEON BIG, Village Grocer & BIG, each of them adopted a different strategy when it comes to e-commerce.

Own store & e-marketplace vs Grocery delivery

We can understand why most of the physical players opt for concierge & delivery platform like HappyFresh or Honestbee as this could be the easiest way to start (and learn) e-commerce, by just having specific outlets available to their surrounding areas.

It will be much more challenging for grocers to set up their own online store, or make their inventory available via e-marketplaces, as they need to figure out how's best to sync their inventory and pricing online, more importantly, to set up their own operation & fulfillment resources.

By contrast, picking, payment (offline during pickup, online when consumers are paying) and delivery are all handled by third-party services like HappyFresh. The barrier of entry is so low for local grocers as they just need to run promotions and give out commissions to grocery delivery partners.

Other online grocery players & service providers

Kindly take note that the list above is by no means comprehensive with only a few examples are shown.

Besides grocery stores going from offline to online, there are also quite a number of grocery online pure-play, those without any physical stores.

However, this is considered as a high-risk business by industry experts, with many of them ceased operation in recent years. One of the most notable ones is Soukai from Japan, which was being closed by Hermo (or officially Hermiso) not long after the acquisition.

There are also online players who focus on B2B only like offices, restaurants etc. This is quite a different ballgame if compared to the B2C model.

Last but not least, grocery comparison players are listed here even though they are not exactly e-commerce businesses, but they do play a role in the grocery shopping ecosystem in this digital age.

Lazada drops commission to 0%: What does it mean for the merchant and the competition?

2018-07-04T09:00:00.000+08:00

Lazada has recently announced that commission rate will be waived (0%) for local merchants, starting from 1st July 2018. However, the 2% Payment Fee will still apply.

The zero commission is only applicable to Malaysian marketplace sellers (which means cross-border sellers from China won't be able to enjoy this scheme) - Official Stores, Certified Stores and Brands are not eligible for zero commision scheme.

Lazada introduces 0% commission for Malaysian sellers

As Shopee is the only major player in the market offering zero commission since its launch in 2015, is this considered a response by Lazada to counter Shopee?

As a matter of fact, zero commission is not something new by Lazada, in which they have been offering this scheme to Indonesia sellers since 2 years ago.

More importantly, we think this is a move that signal Lazada will become what Taobao is for China - a platform for C2C (Consumers to Consumers), enabling any individual sellers to sell online via Lazada without the need of a business registration (which is allowed by Lazada Malaysia since Q1 2017).

Did you know that individual is allowed to sell via Lazada?

Eventually, we foresee that the revenue model for Lazada will shift towards advertising, just like Taobao in China. In order to stand out from billions of SKUs in Taobao, you will need to use their PPC (Pay-per-Click) product - Taobao Zhi Tong Che (直通车).

Meanwhile, LazMall will become what Tmall is for China, a platform specifically for brands. As of March 31, 2018, there were already over 150,000 brands on Tmall alone!

LazMall is offering extra guarantees like 100% original, 15 days money-back etc to differentiate brand products from other products in Lazada. This will boost customer's trust significantly as fake products is a common challenge faced by all the C2C marketplaces, which deter a number of consumers from buying online.

LazMall - The Tmall version for SEA

What does it mean for merchants?

The barrier of entry to sell online gets even lower. You will see more merchants and new sellers listing on the marketplace, creating more competition locally, and abroad as well.

Marketplaces will become the first choice for traders, retailers, brands or entrepreneurs to start venturing into e-commerce. Building own branded store can come later.

What does it mean for marketplace competition in Malaysia?

It will be a two-horse race now for the marketplace domination, fueled by a massive amount of capital. Other local marketplace competitors (Lelong.my, 11street, Qoo10 etc) will feel the pressure of keeping up with the duopoly.

What does it mean for marketplace competition in Southeast Asia?

The top 2 marketplace spots in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore) are dominated by Lazada and Shopee, with Indonesia being the only exception as there are strong local marketplace players like Tokopedia, Bukalapak, BliBli.com etc.

Heavy presence of China's capital in almost all the dominant marketplace players. Lazada is owned by Alibaba, while Tencent is the biggest shareholder of SEA - the parent company of Shopee.

The marketplace itself will face a new type of competition, a direct, B2C, B2B2C model operated by the likes of JD.com, the fiercest competitor of Alibaba in China.

JD.com is expanding to Southeast Asia too, by first setting up its foothold in Indonesia, followed by investment in Tiki.vn (a Vietnam marketplace), and now extending to Thailand via a $500 Million joint-venture with Central Group (a retail conglomerate).

JD.com is more like the Amazon of China, who invest heavily in warehouse and fulfillment infrastructure to gain a full control of supply chain versus the light assets approach adopted by others.

What does it mean for the consumers?

Better price, better service for the consumers. Consumers are the ultimate winners.

What is the ultimate goal for Lazada, or other marketplace leaders?

Simple, the goal is to become the number 1 destination (be it web, or app) for consumers to search and check out whenever you want to buy something. This is why Lazada subsidizes heavily to shape the consumer purchasing behaviour.

This is already happening in the US when people are buying something online, they wouldn't start with a Google search but instead, they go straight to Amazon. As for China, consumers would skip Baidu and go directly to Taobao, Tmall or JD.com.

Similarly, the holy grail for marketplace front-runners in Southeast Asia is to grab the top-of-mind position. When consumers habit is successfully shaped and the whole ecosystem is stabilized, they will have the market to themselves.

Review DFTZ & other eCommerce policies, urged by Malaysian industry leaders

2018-06-18T09:15:00.000+08:00

With the forming of the new government in Malaysia, there is a new hope among local businesses for a more conducive environment with better infrastructure and policies.

We ask industry leaders who are involved directly and indirectly in e-commerce and retail, on their feedback and suggestions for the new cabinet.

Here we compile the comments into categories, from the most heated cross-border & DFTZ, SME & policies, startup & talents, local vs foreign to payment & logistics.

We hope the opinions here will be reviewed and considered by the relevant ministries in the new cabinet, to avoid the same pitfall of the previous government by ruling without listening to the people (local business in this case).

Let's hope for a better Malaysia!

Cross-border & DFTZ

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Dato’ Liew Bin, Founder & CEO of Bagman, VP of MRCA:

I hope for the new government to seek opinions and suggestions from the industry leaders before making any important decision like DFTZ. Without proper study and research, projects like DFTZ will tarnish the benefits of SMEs in Malaysia.

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Liew Chew Keat, Founder of CARI:

Our new government should study again the purpose and objective of setting up DFTZ by the previous government, with the number of jobs created by DFTZ will be outnumbered by the number of jobs eliminated from local SMI and SME.

Even though globalization is unavoidable but are local SMI and SME equipped with sufficient knowledge, resources and experiences today to face huge competitions from China?

The decision of setting up DFTZ with Alibaba shouldn't be made over a 15-minutes talk (as reported by the media) without any detailed study and research.

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Ian Chua, Co-Founder & CEO of Hermo:

I hope for DFTZ to be reviewed in order to benefit local e-tailers and SMEs. By expediting the speed of delivery, consumers get to receive foreign products in a speedy manner. This places local e-tailers in direct competition with big international players like Alibaba - which we stand no chance at all.

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Ng Wei Kheng, Co-Founder & MD of Dasher:

We have yet to see any implementation or policies of DFTZ that help the local SMEs, with China businesses benefiting the most via the Alibaba’s infrastructure, putting local businesses under great pressure.

Foreign imports used to enjoy an unfair competitive edge without GST (below RM500) so is the new government going to impose any tax to them post-GST and protect local businesses? Also, any policies to help local e-commerce brands and traders to grow and compete internationally will be greatly welcomed.

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Sharon Goh, Founder of IT Comp:

With the number of products flowing in from China to Malaysia far greater than the other way around, it does represent the cross-border initiative we are told earlier. Should the government explore and study countries with greater export opportunities for local products?

Also in order to meet the cross-border trade for the SMEs, charges imposed to obtain permits or licensing (e.g. Halal, Jakim, GMP etc.) should be reduced and application process needs to be more efficient.

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Sunny Ooi, Founder & CEO of ClickAsia:

The national digital transformation blueprint by MDEC has laid out several great plans such as DFTZ and Internet City, but the execution needs to be revisited to ensure a larger inclusion of Malaysian companies with an agreed percentage / quota for foreign companies which has specific technologies transfer capabilities only. Above all, these projects should be conducted via open tenders instead of direct awards manner.

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Chan Kok Long, Executive Director & Co-Founder of iPay88:

There are a lot of uncertainties, for example, DFTZ and mega projects with China companies. However, everything should be able to sort out after 6 months and our country will start to see economic growth at a very fast pace.

Read also: What is the volume of China's direct imports to Malaysia via e-commerce?

SME & Policies

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Ian Ho, Regional MD of Shopee:

Like it or not, eCommerce is coming to Malaysian. The government probably needs to play a more active role in the SME education on how they should create an omni-channel solution for their business.

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Jimmy How, Founder & CEO of Involve Asia:

Hopefully, there will be more grants and make it easily accessible for Malaysian SMEs to conduct business and invest in their R&D.

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Tham Keng Yew, Founder & CEO of Supplybunny:

Government-driven incentives in adopting technology that can improve retail efficiency or profitability. Refer to Singapore's STB or IE.

The growth of SMEs is essential to the growth of the nation. Hopefully, taxation & policies will be reviewed so that SMEs are allowed certain liberties during younger, non-profitable periods. The success of such should create larger, more profitable companies that will help in contributing a higher tax income for our nation.

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Ang Kiang Nam, Founder of SOKANO:

I hope that ridiculous subsidy policy (by eCommerce platforms) can be stopped so that both online and offline can grow healthily. I also hope for the new government to play a more proactive role by taking action against merchants who sell counterfeit products online. This is for the consumers to regain their confidence in online purchases in which will bolster the eCommerce market.

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Tang Siew Wai, Country Head of Carousell Malaysia:

I hope for the new cabinet to simplify the regulatory framework for SMEs and other businesses so that the cost of doing business can be reduced.

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Wong Mei Inn, CBT Country Head of eBay Malaysia:

In the recent few years, we have been working closely with MATRADE and MDEC, and we are excited if there is more encouragement and programs to drive the traditional SME, local manufacturers and start-ups to explore doing export and expand their businesses online.

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CK Wong, Founder of Silver Mouse:

Tax policies for payments to Google, Facebook and similar overseas entity should be studied thoroughly. There was a mess last year (and still is now!) with Withholding Tax on digital advertising not being addressed clearly and publicly.

Local businesses are the ones who contribute tax the to the country and they shouldn't be burdened with all the uncertainties and potential threats.

Start-up & Talents

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Sunny Ooi, Founder & CEO of ClickAsia:

Most eCommerce startups require substantial investment, especially during the first 5 years. Most local companies cannot match up to the industry giants which are mainly FDI or oversea VC funded.

We look forward to our banking institution or specific government-linked investment companies to step in and be more proactive in an organised effort to support such initiative. Besides funding, a specific tax incentive can also be considered like MDEC’s MSC companies programme to cater for eCommerce industry.

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Yeoh Chen Chow, Co-Founder of Fave:

Our wish is for the new Malaysian government to continue supporting the startup community in Malaysia through progressive policies and creating a conducive environment that will lead to new regional champions emerging from Malaysia.

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Ian Ho, Regional MD of Shopee:

Talent Development - To attract the brightest Malaysian talents. Keep the ones who are good from leaving the country, and attract the good ones who are already working abroad to return home. Good talents are scarce and hard to find right now.

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Jimmy How, Founder & CEO of Involve Asia:

On one side, make it easier to hire foreign talents. On the other side, offer higher quality and more accessible training for local talents and fresh graduates, especially in computer science, for example, programmes that encourage local graduates to understand big data, machine learning, blockchain, etc.

Local vs Foreign

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KH Lim, MD of Senheng:

Foreign workers should not be allowed to work in retail, and retailers should offer better salary for local workers. This indirectly pushes retail operators to invest in technology and tools to reduce manpower. This is the reason why retail technology is outdated and non-productive now.

With this in place, we will be able to achieve better productivity and competitive advantages over the region. There will be less outflow of currency every month, and we will be able to boost domestic spending within the local workers.

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Wei Kwok Seing, Co-Founder of Lelong.my:

This is a positive change and we hope for the new government to create fair and business-friendly policies for local SMI and retail industries. Local internet businesses must be given the same ground in order to compete with foreign entities in a fair way.

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Sunny Ooi, Founder & CEO of ClickAsia:

A vehicle to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) that will facilitate technology transfer and investment via joint venture with local companies and NOT 100% acquisition. We firmly believe that only via this method, it will be able to position Malaysian companies with opportunities to lead in the eCommerce transformation within the SEA countries. We believe that there are good local talents, just need to be equipped with technology and know-how transfer from more advanced countries.

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Tham Keng Yew, Founder & CEO of Supplybunny:

Embracing foreign talent - Merit oriented and legal means to allow employment of foreign talent - creating a two-fold effect for a talented workforce and osmosis of knowledge.

Payment & Logistics

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Nazroof Hakim, Founder & CEO of Billplz:

E-money must be the dominant payment method for the New Malaysia. It is the fastest way to distribute cash subsidies, at the lowest cost possible with the highest level of transparency and accountability. Due to the sensitive nature of payments, the system should be strictly developed and managed by Malaysians.

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Eng Sheng Guan, Co-Founder & CEO of MOLPay:

We look forward to a regulatory framework for digital bank in order for non-bank players to have a better financial inclusion so that they can provide a variety of financial products more efficiently.

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Ian Ho, Regional MD of Shopee:

I hope for the logistics infrastructure to be improved within the country via Pos Malaysia and other 3PL providers to reduce the delivery time of products. Hopefully, we can improve an average time of 3 days delivery time to next day delivery or same day delivery at some point.

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Dr Teo Bee Yap, Founder & Executive Director of Skynet:

Tax incentive should be provided to the last mile delivery companies in order to facilitate the growth of eCommerce.

How to use GrabPay in Malaysia?

2018-06-11T09:30:00.000+08:00

If we refer to the history of e-commerce development in Malaysia, there were key trends and battles in this decade alone.

Group buying clones exploded during 2011-2012, e-marketplace war started taking shape since 2013, and this year, we are witnessing the impending e-wallet battle in Malaysia.

Just within days after WeChat Pay's roll-out in Malaysia, it is Grab's turn to release its e-wallet product - GrabPay. Similar to Tencent, there isn't any official announcement by Grab so far.

GrabPay can be seen as one of the most important features ever launched by Grab. The ambition goes beyond payment, eventually Anthony Tan sees GrabPay as a financial service to empower both the consumers and the merchants.

This is Anthony Tan's most ambitious ever taking.

What are GrabPay's main features?

GrabPay e-wallet is finally here in Malaysia!

The loyalty program - GrabRewards

Promoting GrabFood of course

P2P money transfer is a must for all e-wallets

How to register for GrabPay Account?

Start with your name (as per your IC or passport)

Enter your IC or passport number

Scanned copy of IC / passport is required before transfer money

How to top-up GrabPay balance?

Nice & modern home screen

Top-up options: in-store (7-11), credit card, online banking

Minimum RM10 regardless of top-up method

Transaction ID for payment at 7-11

GrabPay top-up receipt after payment at 7-11

Top-up via credit card, is this the most convenient way?

It's almost instant! Card payment backend powered by Adyen

You can also top-up via online banking (FPX)

This is powered by MOLPay, with poor interface not fitted nicely

Our top-up test is successful for all 3 methods

Set top-up credits as primary payment method (recommended)

How to pay, send or request money via GrabPay?

You can pay & request money via GrabPay

You can scan QR code to pay

You can send money too

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Sending money via GrabPay

GrabPay verification (upgrade wallet) required before you can send money. We have tried but it was not successful. Our guess is the receiving party also requires a GrabPay e-wallet but there is not much information & clarification yet.

Snap your IC or passport to upgrade e-wallet (verification)

So even beggar can use QR code to request for money

Where can I use GrabPay? Work in progress

Points can only be used to redeem vouchers for now

How to GrabPay for your GrabFood?

Install GrabFood to start using GrabPay right away

Ordering Chatime milk tea Use GRABFOOD15 for RM15 off

Set preferred ETA and pay using GrabPay!

Link GrabPay to GrabFood first (if it's not done yet)

Linking GrabPay - GrabFood success!

Order placed with ETA of 11.30am

GrabFood arrives 15 minutes late, but we don't mind at all

Sneak peek to WeChat Pay Malaysia: How to enable, top-up, withdraw balance?

2018-06-06T09:00:00.000+08:00

The talk of the town is that WeChat Pay is finally launching in Malaysia this month. Without any official announcement, the local wallet in MYR has been quietly made available to Malaysia.

It seems like this has been rolled out to some local WeChat users (not all according to our check), could it be in beta mode? You can try it out yourself by following steps below.

Introduction to WeChat Pay

Before that, let's start with a quick introduction to WeChat Pay, especially for those who aren't familiar with China and WeChat.

If you have ever been to China in recent years, you get to experience the cashless society with WeChat Pay and Alipay being the duopoly there.

However, it is not easily available to foreigners, as you need a local China bank account to top-up your WeChat Pay balance.

A quick trick is to get your friend with Renminbi balance to transfer some funds to you and voila! You can then use it to pay everywhere you want, ranging from hawker stalls, kiosks, mom and pop stores, retail outlets to many more.

Just watch the video below on our own WeChat Pay experience in China earlier this year.

Malaysia is the first overseas launch for WeChat Pay

You might be wondering why Malaysia? First of all, did you know that Malaysia has the second largest overseas Chinese population in the world after Thailand?

If we are to consider Chinese population which is closer to China in terms of language and culture, Malaysia easily has the most in the world out of China.

Tencent (the parent company of WeChat) has also claimed that there are 20 million WeChat users in Malaysia, according to S.Y. Lau, Senior Vice President of Tencent.

Therefore, it makes perfect sense for Tencent to launch WeChat Pay first in Malaysia.

By looking at the timing of its imminent launch here, we wouldn't be surprised if they replicate the WeChat red packet a.k.a. hongbao (微信红包) formula here for Hari Raya - green packet perhaps? It was one of the key stimulators of cashless society in China back then.

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Updates: WeChat Pay expands merchant base for mobile payments in Malaysia

How to enable WeChat Pay in Malaysia?

Just follow the step-by-step guide below, especially if you already have RMB balance in your WeChat wallet. Bear in mind that, this is not made available to every WeChat users yet according to our findings.

If you have RMB balance (China Region)

You will be prompted with "other regions enabled"

Select "Switch Wallet Region"

Select Malaysia as your new region

WeChat Pay Malaysia (with RM) is activated!

How to top up WeChat balance in Malaysia?

From our test and findings, it seems that we can only top up with a debit card now, other top-up methods are not available yet at the time of writing.

You need to top up WeChat balance first

You can only top up using a debit card now

Set 6-digits payment PIN (it's like your password)

RM0.01 will be charged to your debit card

Your debit card is now added / linked

The top-up limit is RM1,500 for unverified users

RM10 top up successfully via Maybank Debit Card

What is WeChat Quick Pay?

If you haven't realized, China is a "QR code country" in which we haven't seen similar adaption here yet. Quick Pay is one of the QR code features of WeChat, to enable merchants to scan your QR code on transactions.

From our experience in China, it is usually the larger merchants or retailers who scan your QR code with a scanner that linked to their POS system. It is the other way round for smaller merchants - you scan their QR code instead.

Enable Quick Pay on WeChat Pay

This QR is dynamic (refresh every minute for security purpose)

How to withdraw your WeChat Pay balance in Malaysia?

Unlike the controversy of our very own Touch 'n Go, it is a pleasant surprise to find out that we can withdraw WeChat Pay balance here without much fuss, ironically even before its official launch!

We tested balance withdrawal to a Maybank account and it works, you can withdraw your WeChat balance to 29 banks at the time of writing.

We tested RM1 withdrawal and it works!

Withdrawal limits of WeChat Pay in Malaysia

Which merchants accept WeChat Pay in Malaysia now?

We are not expecting many merchant partners before the official rollout, but you can top up your mobile prepaid via WeChat Pay at the moment.

Surprisingly, you can also buy bus tickets via WeChat Pay and select the seats within the app too, this is something cool!

You can use WeChat Pay to top up mobile prepaid

You can buy bus tickets too!

You can select bus seats within the app, wow!

What about you? Have you tested it out? Do share with us your experience and feedback in the comment box below.

Don't forget to watch our WeChat Pay experience in China, we used it to pay food stall, fashion merchant, vending machine, and retail store. Are we expecting the same will happen here in Malaysia? Time will tell.

9 powerful e-commerce lessons from #1 Southeast Asia eBay Seller - Eu Gin

2018-06-01T10:00:00.000+08:00

I had the privilege to do a fireside chat with Eu Gin, the undisputed no. 1 Southeast Asia eBay seller in terms of GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume). As of 2017 alone, Eu Gin's company has achieved a total export sales of USD 27 million (approximately RM 107,000,000 sales).

Here's a quick fact sheet his company's (Tradeworks) achievement:

100+ employees
100+ million sales
Started since 2001~now (17 years)
The largest SEA eBay cross-border seller (Australia, UK, USA, Germany)

Don't worry if you miss the session, as I summarized top 9 lessons which we all can benefit from his experience.

Lesson #1 - The number of SKUs doesn't matter

Throughout the years, Eu Gin has listed over 50,000 SKUs for sale. Active selling SKUs are only about 3,000 now, which is around 6% of his total product listing over the years.

How does he discover winning products that sell? It is fully on trial and error basis. His main categories now are consumer electronics, car accessories etc.

Lesson #2 - Stay ahead of eBay policy changes

eBay policy changes can have a serious impact on the sellers worldwide. Eu Gin doesn't want to be caught off-guard by eBay policy changes, thus he makes sure he is well prepared for eBay policy changes by staying up to date with this website - EcommerceBytes.

According to him, this website rolls out eBay news faster than eBay itself.

Lesson #3 - Enter new market to boost growth

Eu Gin is currently selling in four key eBay markets. He started in Australia, spending about 5 to 7 years to prepare for his product catalogue.

He then expanded his eBay business by venturing into eBay UK, eBay US and eBay Germany. His sales grow significantly (easily doubled) whenever he enters a new market.

Lesson #4 - FDI (Forward Deployed Inventory) strategy

Eu Gin mentioned that typical local eBay sellers just list and sell products in Malaysia, and then sell internationally by shipping from Malaysia. He recommends sellers to adopt FDI (a.k.a Forward Deployed Inventory), by keeping stocks in the countries that you are selling to.

For Eu Gin, he makes sure the fast-moving stocks are readily available in the local warehouse, so he can provide fast shipping (3 days delivery) and also easy local return for the local customers. These two criteria give customers a peace of mind, not to mention that you can avoid unexpected custom clearance challenges too.

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What are the top cross-border destinations and categories?

Read this: 2018 export opportunities for Malaysian sellers on eBay

Lesson #5 - Staying close to the source (CHINA)

When he set up his base in China back in 2008, he practically can source and sell everything that is manufactured in China without having the needs to keep the inventory.

With the "Zero Inventory" concept, he can afford to experiment and only buy what really sells.

Lesson #6 - Upsell strategy that actually works

How do you entail buyers to your products listing and get the sale done? Try upsell strategy, Eu Gin lists some of his main products (e.g. mobile phone) at a very low cost, some even at zero profit. If the customers opt for convenience and also buy accessories or other add-ons that go with the bare unit phone, this is where the profit is made.

Of course, as simple as it sounds, he did his homework. He analyzed the buying behaviour of a smartphone and from the data that he collected, 5 out of 10 customers who bought a smartphone will also buy accessories (e.g. screen protector, car charger etc) together.

Lesson #7 - Not all contents are created equal

Eu Gin currently does all his listing with tools developed in-house, and the key still lies in the product content. For example, mobile phone is recognized as "smartphone" in Malaysia, "cellphone" in USA, "mobile phone" in UK, "handy" in Germany. You really need to name the title and contents of your product correctly when you are selling in various markets.

USA - "cellphone"
UK - "mobile phone"
Australia - "smart phone"
Germany - "handy"

Lesson #8 - How to rank 1st page in eBay search?

Eu Gin mentioned that the only thing that matters the most is the Conversion Rate (CVR). It is a ratio of how many people have viewed your products vs how many end-up with purchases. In order to rank on the first page of eBay search results, CVR is one of the important factors!

This is what he did, for new product listing, he will sell the products at a minor loss for 3 to 5 days, which he considers as advertisement cost (also known as CAC, Customer Acquisition Cost). When your products are listed on the first page of related search terms, you are on your way to boost your sales!

Lesson #9 - You cannot avoid negative feedback

As a seller, you cannot avoid negative feedback, as customers will rate you based on logistic failures, product defects, or even on their purchase and return experience on eBay.

His advice is just to make sure that the fulfillment is efficient and the product's return ratio is acceptable - which is less than 5% for any categories.

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Interested to learn more about Eu Gin's entrepreneurial story?

Download our "Unboxing eCommerce Entrepreneurs" ebook for free at book.ecinsider.my.

Watch Eu Gin's sharing in video below

Lazada Wallet Review

2018-05-24T14:33:00.000+08:00

What is Lazada Wallet?

Lazada launch its e-wallet (Lazada Wallet) back in early April 2018, one of the new features released before its 6th Birthday Campaign.

You can think of the Lazada Wallet as an online prepaid account in which you can top up via credit card, online banking (Maybank, CIMB, Public Bank, RHB, Hong Leong, Ambank, Bank Islam) or top up at your nearest 7 Eleven outlet (with MOLPay Cash).

There are currently around 2,225 7-Eleven stores in Malaysia.

To activate your Lazada Wallet, you will need to verify both your email and mobile numbers. These two details combined, must be unique to only one Lazada account. For multiple wallet accounts, you will need to create with other email and mobile phone number.

Verify your email, followed by the mobile number

Is Lazada Wallet licensed by Bank Negara Malaysia?

Lazada Wallet can only be used for purchases in Lazada website, so it is a closed loop system. This means you can only use with the merchant that issues you the e-money, a similar example is your Starbucks Card, which you can only use for purchases in Starbucks outlets.

Thus it does not require an e-money license from BNM.

What can I do with Lazada e-wallet?

Pay for your online shopping with Lazada (website or app). You might get a special rebate with this payment method whenever there is a special campaign running.

How do I top-up Lazada e-wallet?

There are three ways available, you can top up via Credit or Debit Cards, Online Banking or using cash at your nearest 7-eleven (via MOLPay Cash).

Your home screen for Lazada Wallet - RM0 balance now

You can top-up via Credit or Debit Card

You can top-up via Maybank, CIMB, PBB, RHB, HLB,
Ambank or Bank Islam

No card or online banking? No problem, you can top-up via cash

Select top-up via 7-11, complete the steps, go to the
nearest 7-11 outlet within 48 hours and you are done!

Is there a maximum amount I can store in Lazada e-wallet?

Currently, it is up to RM2,999 at the time of review.

The maximum amount you can top-up is RM2,999

How can I withdraw money from Lazada e-wallet?

You can't withdraw the amount you top up. However, you are allowed to withdraw any balance in a refund.

Where can I use Lazada e-wallet?

You can currently use the e-wallet at Lazada website or Lazada mobile app for now.

Is there an e-wallet app to download?

No, you will be able to locate the e-wallet menu in your Lazada app account.

Are there any special benefits offered by Lazada Wallet?

As mentioned earlier, you get to enjoy rebate when you pay with e-wallet whenever there are special campaigns being offered by Lazada.

Other notable benefits like a quicker refund and fast checkout.

Lazada Wallet will appear as the first payment option

Speedy checkout with Lazada Wallet

How do I contact Lazada Wallet customer service?

You can contact them via live chat on Lazada website or call +603-86011888 during:

Mon - Fri: 08.00 am to 09.00 pm
Weekends and Public Holidays: 9.00am - 6.00pm

Will other marketplaces like 11street, Shopee follow suit with an e-wallet of their own? Perhaps it is quite likely, as 11street has recently secured a new investment by PUC Berhad, which owns an e-wallet app Presto. We foresee Presto will be embedded into 11street to increase its user base.

As for Shopee, they already have Shopee Wallet which is empowered by their own e-wallet platform branded as AirPay. As of now, it is only used for sales proceeds (for sellers) or refund (for buyers).

Stay tuned, we will update this review from time to time whenever there is new information made available for Lazada Wallet.

Interview with Simon Grabowski, CEO of GetResponse

2018-05-23T09:00:00.000+08:00

During the recent ResponseCon, we have the pleasure to interview Simon Grabowski, who is the CEO of GetResponse. In 1997 he started GetResponse Email Marketing with only $200 in his pocket. Today, he is the owner of several online businesses that serve a growing network of over 23.6 million people.

We have summarized the interview highlights here so read on, or you can watch the full video of our interview with Simon at the bottom of this article, or on our YouTube channel.

When and how did you start GetResponse?

When I was 16 years old during 1996, I started Travel Poland, a website for users to look-up hotels in Poland. I discovered during that time that one of the challenges was to send out emails to the hotels in order to promote our services.

I was wondering back then, that it would be great to have a system to do this. Even though I was a terrible programmer, I started coding and I did it. With this simple solutions, I started thinking of the possibility of offering this system to other customers.

Wow, 16 years old is an early age to start entrepreneurship, how did it happen?

I always wanted to do something when I was young. We have this tradition that families in Poland are giving cash or gifts to 10 years old. I got a dot matrix printer back then as a gift, so I used this printer to do some sort of newsletter for my street (like a blog).

I printed some copies and tried to sell it, but not many would buy. That is when I realized, how cool will it be if I can create a product and sell.

You are in the global competition, how does GetResponse line-up against competitors like MailChimp?

From the beginning, we always have competitors and I would say it is stimulating to have competitors, motivating you to become even better.

People will tend to compare us with competitors like MailChimp, they are kinda like a "Big Mac" for me, we have a lot of customers coming from MailChimp who were happy with them earlier, but they decided they need more so they come to us for email marketing, for more advanced marketing automation, 24/7 human-operated customer service.

In short, we have a comprehensive platform not limited to just email marketing and marketing automation. We have landing pages creator plus online webinar which is a great combination to drive engagement and grow subscribers.

Get up to 30% off your MailChimp plan if you migrate to GetResponse now, with more features like landing page, marketing automation etc. plus billing in MYR without the worry of Withholding Tax.

Isn't that the features can be copied by your competitors, how do you stay ahead?

Yes, everything can be copied. We just have to continue pressing on.

We work with our customers closely to provide them with features that others don't have. The notion of having all-in-one platform great for small businesses and the enterprise customers is crucial. They just don't need to purchase other services like GoToMeeting, with everything available in GetResponse.

The hot topic now is AI, is GetResponse working on AI initiatives?

In 2014, we launched our first AI initiative: Hydra, which is an AI-driven anti-spam system.

We analyze all the data we have with machine-learning and big data processes, which enables us to predict, for instance, the intention of spam. Spam is the biggest enemy of email marketing and we don't want users to use your system for spam, this will just create a lot of problems for everybody.

Before AI, we were using a reactive system which we can only react if certain users are sending out abusive emails, and talk to them to shut down the accounts. AI like Hydra enables us to be proactive instead of being reactive.

Hydra has completely changed the game for us. For example, if a user uploads a list of 10,000 emails to our system, Hydra will analyze the data from all angles to determine whether the list is clean, whether the user is a spammer or fake user.

With the emerging of social media, is it a threat to email marketing?

It is never a debate on social media "or" email marketing. Social media does not replace email marketing, they compliment each other and they work great together like a marriage.

When social media is growing, people are predicting email is going to die. While they have been saying this for the last 10-20 years, we are still alive and kicking!

In fact, there is a lot of growth in email marketing and if we refer to the latest statistics, there is a 20% increase of email sent last year (in the whole world).

What is your view on duopoly by Google and Facebook?

Fundamentally, you can't avoid Google and Facebook if you are a marketer, it is a hard one to tackle due to the sheer dominance so you just need to embrace it.

To be honest, any business that models itself around a specific platform is asking for trouble. If you are building your entire business model on Google or Facebook algorithm, you are essentially betting, taking a gamble.

Your business has to defend itself, you have to be able to market your business via multiple channels including email marketing.

Also, using Facebook ads is kinda like renting a list, that's what it is. When you are building an email marketing list, you own it, this is your list. You no longer have to depend on a platform like Facebook, that's why I strongly recommend marketers to build your own list.

Sign-up for a GetResponse email marketing account and start building your own list now!

Watch the full video of our interview with Simon Grabowski below, or on our YouTube channel.

What is the volume of China's direct imports to Malaysia via e-commerce?

2018-05-15T09:00:00.000+08:00

This article is inspired by Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, check out his Thai version here.

In order to warm-up to this topic, you are encouraged to read our previous article on does Alibaba's investment in Thailand spell doom for local businesses?

What is happening in Thailand, is happening in Malaysia and Southeast Asia countries too. This is probably with the exception of Alibaba is investing in Thailand (USD320M), while ironically, Malaysia (under the previous government) could be the other way round.

With such threat to the local businesses, how do we forecast and quantify the number of Chinese items coming into this region and specifically Malaysia?

Let's break down some numbers in this article.

A good point to start with is by referring to the infographic released by Lazada for its 12.12 sale back in 2017.

Two key figures stood up from the infographic above:

USD250 million GMV registered on 12.12.2017
1,8320,201 items ordered by international sellers

Do take note that the figures above are combined results for all 6 countries Lazada is operating in Southeast Asia.

Since Lazada didn't reveal the breakdown by countries, let's start with estimating the % share of web traffic by countries, using SimilarWeb data as a benchmark.

Visits above is derived from SimilarWeb for the month of December 2017, and % share of visits is calculated based on the total visits to all 6 Lazada sites.

Even though the visits reported above might not be accurate, but it is still a good indicator to benchmark % share of traffic by country.

Hence, we will use the following % weight for each country in the rest of this article:

Lazada Indonesia: 31.21%
Lazada Thailand: 18.07%
Lazada Philippines: 18.07%
Lazada Vietnam: 14.99%
Lazada Malaysia: 14.30%
Lazada Singapore: 3.36%

We can also estimate that Indonesia is Lazada's biggest market in Southeast Asia, followed by Thailand, The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore.

This is proven by the fact that flights were chartered by Lazada to handle spikes in volume to Indonesia and Thailand.

However, when we cross-check this finding with a cross-border logistics insider who preferred not to be named, the actual scenario might be quite different from the numbers simulated.

"Malaysia and Indonesia are the top two, should be around 35% and 33% each. Thailand is smaller say around 15% because the cross-border cost is higher and there are a lot of restricted items which they can't import now. The rest will be Singapore and Philippines. As far as I know, Lazada doesn't have cross-border logistics solutions from China / Hong Kong to Vietnam as sellers might make their own arrangements there," comments by the logistics insider.

Nevertheless, how do we estimate Lazada's GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) by each country? Let's use the similar % weight above to populate a table as below:

With RM1.02 billion (USD250 million, currency exchange rate of USD1 = RM4.08 on 12.12.2017) reported for the whole region, GMV of Lazada Malaysia can be estimated to be around RM145 million during 12.12 campaign.

If we estimate AOV (Average Order Volume) of RM100, there were 10.2M orders made across the region, and 1.46M orders transacted via Lazada Malaysia.

Next, let's expand the table to more columns to simulate figures for China imports. You can refer to the section highlighted in red below:

* Click to enlarge, figures in yellow above are reported by Lazada

As per reported by Lazada in the infographic above, there were 1,8320,201 items ordered from international sellers, it is not a stretch to presume almost all of them are from China.

If we divide 1.8M items from China by 10.2M total orders, close to 18% of orders from Lazada across all 6 countries were shipped directly from China.

So, how many of those items are coming into Malaysia?

If we use the same % weight above (14.30% for Malaysia), there were around 261,704 items flowing from China to Malaysia (direct-to-consumers) during 12.12.2017.

Let's make another assumption, AOV of China imports could be lower than the overall AOV of Lazada. So if the AOV is around RM50, GMV for China imports alone is estimated at RM13M+ via Lazada Malaysia.

Most insiders would agree that 12.12 campaign by Lazada is like a whole month's sales being condensed into this 3-days' period, as consumers tend to "save their bullets" for the month and buy during 12.12.

Therefore, if we accumulate monthly average GMV of RM13M+, it would be RM156M+ GMV for China imports across 12 months.

It is likely that this particular chunk of GMV is free from duty (break parcels, direct-to-consumer) and free from GST. This is an unfair competitive advantage for China exporters against local merchants, at our own home ground! Not to mention the loss of tax income to the country.

Now, let's refer to our report earlier on e-commerce penetration in Malaysia for 2017, the products-only market size is estimated to be close to RM5B.

If we are to make a small conclusion here, more than 3% of products sold online here were imported directly from China in 2017. Would it be 5% if we are to include direct-imports on platforms beyond Lazada?

The pie above can be considered as conservative, as the direct-import volume could be significantly higher if we take the logistics insider's comment above into consideration. This is also without including the made-in-China products imported by local merchants and traders.

By referring back to the infographic above, Lazada has reported that 12.12.17 performance is 2x of the previous year. You can only imagine the growth rate of China imports in the coming years, even more, when Alibaba and DFTZ's infrastructure is up and running.

Local merchants and retailers, it is time to brace yourself for impact!

Note: Most figures above are forecast and estimates based on the infographic published by Lazada.

This article is inspired by Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, read his Thai version here.

Does Alibaba's investment in Thailand spell doom for local business?

2018-05-07T09:00:00.000+08:00

This article is written by Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, translated by Nicha Kuadkaew, edited by ecInsider, read the original article in Thai here.

It was just months ago when Alibaba's biggest e-commerce competitor in China, JD.com said it will form a USD500 million joint venture with top Thai retailer Central Group.

Last month, it was Alibaba's turn to officially make its move in Thailand.

While Alibaba is investing USD320 million in Thailand's "digital hub" located in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), you might wonder how much did Alibaba invest in Malaysia's version of DFTZ earlier, if any?

With this fund in Thailand, Alibaba will develop an online trading infrastructure, and extend it to CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam) in the future.

On paper, it seems like a positive development for local entrepreneurs and businesses, but don't get too excited yet!

A threat to local e-commerce entrepreneurs

Similar to DFTZ in Malaysia, the E-Commerce Park in EEC is portrayed as a "connecting bridge to China".

If you look at the bright side, local products can be exported easily to a huge market like China. If you look at the potential threat, a huge volume of made-in-China products will flow into Thailand easily too.

In fact, this is already happening to a certain extent especially via Lazada, with many direct-from-China items being priced cheaper than products sold by local merchants.

It is important to note that with or without EEC or DFTZ, products are already coming in from China while Alibaba's ambition is to deliver worldwide within 72 hours.

In this scenario, the manufacturers in China are able to sell directly to consumers without the middlemen or agents. Therefore, local traders who are importing goods from China will be hugely impacted soon, if not now.

Fighting against competitively-priced products, even local SMEs or manufacturers who are producing products similar to what China is offering will be disrupted too.

With local businesses struggling, this will definitely affect employment rate and the country's economy in the long run.

Therefore, local e-commerce entrepreneurs, merchants, traders need to pivot now, or face death.

A threat to local retailers

This is already happening as online shopping penetration has grown steadily in recent years, the "China bridge" spearheaded by Alibaba will only speed things up and intensify the competition.

With online space flooded by Chinese products, it is not only more convenient but also cheaper than buying from the shopping malls or even flea markets.

Local retailers who are selling products like cosmetics, mobile, computers, appliances, fashion will be impacted first as these are the popular products bought online.

You have probably read how Amazon disrupts the retail industry in the United States, and this will happen to Thailand and Malaysia too in the next few years.

Just like local e-commerce merchants and SMEs, retailers don't have the luxury of sitting comfortably by doing business the old way.

Read also: What is the volume of China's direct imports to Malaysia via e-commerce?

Monopoly by foreign-owned eCommerce players

In most Southeast Asia countries including Thailand and Malaysia, the "big 2" e-commerce players or to be exact, e-commerce marketplaces are taking shape.

Depending on how you see it, this is a monopoly or duopoly, with the top 2 foreign-owned companies (mostly China-backed) leaving no room for other players.

Obviously, Alibaba is in the game via Lazada, the e-marketplace leader in most countries here.

It is not just e-marketplace as Alibaba is now investing heavily in infrastructure via EEC: logistics, warehouse, fulfillment - the backbone of e-commerce operation.

Alibaba is building its spider web in Southeast Asia, with the population, history and geographical factors considered this is a sensible global expansion strategy.

A threat to local banks and logistics too

It is not just retail and shopping, as other industries especially financial service and logistics providers will be disrupted too.

This is already happening in China with Alipay disrupted the bank industry there. With huge transactions going through the platform, big data generated will help e-commerce players like Alibaba to target and offer financial products to consumers more accurately and effectively compared to traditional banks or financial institutions.

This is the reason why Bank of Thailand allows Thai Commercial Bank to set up its e-marketplace business as Chinese players will be expanding here soon by offering one-stop service.

Besides that, Alibaba's logistics subsidiary - Cainiao will expand to Thailand too so the alarm is triggered for local logistics players, particularly Thai Post.

If Alibaba's ecosystem plan works out accordingly, this will be a domino effect spanned across various industries, related directly or indirectly with e-commerce.

It is not all doom and gloom though

Despite all the threats, let's also consider the bright sides of Alibaba's investment:

1. eCommerce industry in Thailand will grow at a faster rate.
2. The huge value of foreign investment in Thailand.
3. Thailand will be the hub of products distribution for CLMV.
4. Opportunity for Thai goods to expand to China.
5. Training and development for Thai entrepreneurs and SMEs.

Made in Internet, or Made in China?

Jack Ma is trying to coin the phrase "Made in Internet" as consumers are buying products via the Internet.

In fact, the majority of the products available via sites owned by Alibaba are "Made in China", the products are just flowing out from the country via the Internet.

It is a smart move to position Alibaba on a more neutral ground globally and minimize the general perceptions of "Made in China" being an inferior product. Make no mistake, China does produce some of the highest quality products in the world.

The differences between Japanese & Chinese investors

Japanese investors are here way earlier, investing in manufacturing, building factories, increasing employment rate and exporting products from Thailand.

Therefore, Thailand gains a lot of benefits from most Japanese investments.

In contrary, Chinese or to be precise Alibaba's investment focus on building infrastructures like logistics and warehouse. The ultimate goal is to build a "carriage" for goods to travel from China to Thailand effectively.

Instead of investing in factories and hiring workers, China is the obvious winner by gaining long-term benefits in such investment model.

In conclusion, both countries invest with a different objective in mind, and you can judge by yourself the benefits gained by Thailand and its people.

Should the government handle this carefully?

It is understandable for the Thai government to welcome foreign investment, including the one from Alibaba. Benefits like to enable the export of Thai products to China, to facilitate the entrepreneurship development program are highlighted.

However, this is just one side of the story. The reality is Jack Ma and Alibaba intends to facilitate and optimize the export of Chinese products to the world, including Thailand.

Bear in mind that this article is not to go against Alibaba, but to reveal the other side of the story on the potential impact and threats to local businesses.

We should study the estimated number of Chinese goods flowing into Thailand via e-commerce, and what is the impact, who will be affected? Read here for the estimated volume of direct imports from China to Malaysia via e-commerce.

The government, agencies, associations, corporates should work closely together to pre-amp and prepare our local businesses to be ready for the imminent Alibaba storm.

At the very least, they wouldn't die without knowing what hit them.

This article is written by Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, translated by Nicha Kuadkaew, edited by ecInsider, read the original article in Thai here.

Malaysia eCommerce Landscape 2018

2018-03-07T10:00:00.000+08:00

The last time we compiled something similar and simpler was almost 5 years ago (how fast things can change), it is time to lay out the e-commerce landscape in Malaysia again with the industry booming here in recent years.

The e-commerce ecosystem will only be complete with four pillars, namely digital marketing, e-commerce platform, payment & finance, logistics & fulfillment. Hence, this is the way we are structuring and listing the key players in each category.

There are a few criteria on how we map the e-commerce ecosystem Malaysia, by focusing on key players who involved directly, or indirectly in the online transactions of physical goods. Certain verticals like properties, cars, travel, ticketing are being omitted here.

Obviously, the e-commerce ecosystem is dynamic and fast-changing as ever. As time goes by, we will update this landscape as it deemed necessary. Some of the new categories we foresee to include are the emerging fields such as O2O (or "OMO" to some, Online-Merge-Offline), AI etc.

We will go by category so read on, or you can scroll all the way to the bottom for full landscape in infographic.

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Digital Marketing

When you are selling online especially via your own branded store, digital marketing is a must so you either need to do it in-house or outsource it to a digital agency.

Besides the popular ad platforms, social media channels and email marketing, the other options you can consider are affiliate / cashback / loyalty programs.

If you are an Internet noob or beginner, you might also want to consider e-commerce or digital marketing training to beef up your knowledge first.

Digital Agency

There are hundreds of digital agencies in Malaysia from big to small ones but we shortlisted those with deep e-commerce know-how and sizeable clients.

Most of them offer core service to handle your Google AdWords and Facebook / Instagram advertising campaigns with some of them specializing in services like SEO, influencer marketing, content development, creative design, video production etc. too.

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Digital Agency in Malaysia

Silver Mouse
SearchGuru
LOCUS-T
PanPages

Affiliate / Cashback / Loyalty

If you are an e-commerce merchant then you are no stranger to affiliate or cashback scheme, in which you only pay for cost per sale or CPA (Cost per Acquisition).

In terms of loyalty, there are a couple of programs initiated by the merchants itself but here we shortlisted wide-scale loyalty programs usable in major e-commerce sites in Malaysia.

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Affiliate / Cashback / Loyalty in Malaysia

Involve Asia
MilkADeal
ShopBack
Fave
B Infinite
AirAsia BIG Loyalty

Ad Platform / Social Media

If you are making a living online, you must have known or used the self-service advertising platforms by Facebook and Google. Just engage one of the digital agencies if you don't know how to do it, or you aren't sure on how to do it well.

Online advertising platforms are not just limited by the "big two", as you can also explore options like affiliate programs above, or mobile chat app marketing solutions, Bing ads, Twitter ads etc.

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Ad Platform / Social Media in Malaysia

Facebook Business Manager (includes Facebook & Instagram)
Google AdWords (includes SEM, GDN, YouTube etc.)
Mobile Chat App (WhatsApp, LINE, WeChat)
Bing Ads
Twitter Ads

Email Marketing

While marketing solutions above generally focus on driving acquisitions (for example, getting new customers), email marketing is good for customers' communication and retention.

There are quite a couple of email marketing solutions available globally, but popular ones are MailChimp and GetResponse in particular, has set up a local office in Malaysia.

Training

Wanna brush up your e-commerce or digital marketing skills? Do consider attending training (physically) or eLearning organized by private institutions or the government initiatives.

Just take note that each training providers are specializing in respective areas like digital advertising, Google Analytics, Facebook marketing, e-commerce disciplines and so on.

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Training in Malaysia

ClickAcademy
iTrain
SifuFBads
Udemy
Go eCommerce
SITEC Academy

E-Commerce Platform

Even before considering digital marketing solutions, e-commerce platform is the one you should kickstart your online business journey. This is the first step to set up your online presence, webstore or simply, just listing your products online.

The fundamental questions to ask yourself first are:

Are you selling locally or overseas?
Are you selling to end consumers (B2C) or businesses (B2B)?
Do you intend to sell via marketplaces, or set up your own store, or both?
Do you sell new, or used products?

B2B

Online B2B platforms can work two ways - selling and sourcing products for your business.

While Alibaba enables you to source or sell almost anything under the roof, there are other local B2B sites which focus on certain niches like office and pantry supplies, stationery, grocery and even restaurant supplies.

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B2B in Malaysia

Alibaba
Supplycart
Segi Fresh
Supplybunny

TV Shopping

There were a few TV shopping brands in the market previously but it has come down to a battle between two local media conglomerates: Astro GO SHOP vs CJ WOW Shop (by Media Prima), both with a Korean partner respectively.

With TV Shopping channel raking tens of millions annually, this could be a lucrative avenue for merchants or brands to sell hero products.

Marketplace

The online marketplace is arguably the easiest way to sell online especially for beginners, leveraging its huge traffic and customers base. A big chunk of local online sales is happening here, with physical products filled by cross-border, local merchants, retailers, and brands.

If you refer to our e-commerce history and milestones in Malaysia, e-marketplace battle is the third wave which stimulates the e-commerce growth here. This is a super competitive and capital-intensive field led by the big-two (or big-four depending on how you see it), with many others had gone into the dead pool.

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Marketplace in Malaysia

Classified

Not to be confused with e-marketplace, classified mainly facilitates the trade of used items or listing of property, cars etc. In simpler words, this is like a newspaper classified transformed online.

Instead of ordering from online merchants (B2C), classified is C2C-driven with buyers have to negotiate, deal and pay the individual sellers either via bank transfer or COD.

Mudah has been the household brand here with Carousell from Singapore entering the field since a few years ago, will Facebook Marketplace makes its entry here soon?

Webstore Platform

If you are to set up your own-branded store, you can either go for SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) platform or source for web developers to implement the open-source shopping cart.

Since many merchants are selling multi-channel, the capability to sync products and orders to/from marketplaces is becoming a sought-after feature of the shopping cart. There are also standalone multi-channel tools like Zetpy without the need of a webstore.

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Webstore Platform in Malaysia

Webshaper
Shopify
Avana
WooCommerce *
OpenCart *
Magento *

* Open source shopping cart

Cross-Border (Outbound)

Is Malaysia a market too small for you? You can always consider global marketplaces if you are aspired to expand your e-commerce business to overseas.

There are quite a number of untold cross-border success stories by local entrepreneurs, you can find out some of them in our Unboxing eCommerce Entrepreneurs book.

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Cross-Border (Outbound) in Malaysia

eBay (to the United States, Australia etc)
Qoo10 (to Singapore)
Blibli (to Indonesia)
Alibaba (check out Malaysia Pavilion under DFTZ initiative)

B2C Vertical

Besides e-marketplaces, a chunk of online transactions is contributed by a number of online B2C sites which focus on certain verticals like health & beauty, fashion & accessories etc.

While this is not a platform for you to set up your direct e-commerce presence, you can still supply your products to B2C sites especially if you are brand owners in certain categories.

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B2C Vertical in Malaysia

Hermo
Photobook
Zalora
Poplook
Senheng *
Watsons *
Tesco *
MPH Online *

* Retailers going online

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Payment & Finance

Digital payment is definitely getting a lot of tractions especially in markets with growing e-commerce penetration, and this is happening in Malaysia too.

Fintech (financial technology) is the buzzword nowadays, as financial industry is no longer monopolized by traditional institutions. Internet businesses from startups to conglomerates are moving fast in this arena to give banks a run for their money.

Payment Gateway

If you are setting up shop online, offering e-payment is a must. Bigger merchants or existing retailers might opt for connecting straight to the banks, while most online merchants are already aware of the options offered by online payment gateway companies.

To recap, local online payment gateway enables you to accept payments via both online bank transfer and credit / debit card. A must if you are selling locally, as the majority of online orders here are transacted via these two payment methods.

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Payment Gateway in Malaysia

iPay88
MOLPay
eGHL
Billplz
Maybank2u Pay
PayPal
Braintree

International Money Transfer

Are you planning to sell at global marketplaces like Amazon or Alibaba? If so, you might require international money transfer service like Payoneer to receive overseas payments and remit money back to Malaysia.

On another hand, Money match is a cost-effective way to remit payment to overseas, which might be useful for businesses that import or export.

eWallet

We are probably witnessing the dawn of eWallet battle here, with many new players backed by big corporations entering the field, and most of them are non-banks though. A special mention to Sarawak Pay, a unique case of state-initiated e-wallet.

There are two types of e-wallets: network-based like Boost, Vcash, kiplePay, Touch 'n Go, GrabPay etc, and card-based like BigPay, ManagePay (both Mastercard Prepaid), Merchantrade Money (Visa Prepaid) etc. Stay tuned as we will have more e-wallet content lining up this year.

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eWallet in Malaysia

Boost
Vcash
One2pay
WeChat Pay
Alipay
Touch 'n Go
GrabPay

Tokenization

Tokenization enables mobile payments to be more secure by attaching a card number to a digital wallet with a unique identifier that’s passed between the wallet, merchant, and other relevant parties.

Samsung Pay, supports MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission), NFC, which can be widely accepted by major retailers in the country. Meanwhile, Masterpass is supported by TGV and Visa Checkout is supported by GSC.

Crowdfunding

Moving on from digital payments, some e-commerce businesses are capital intensive so financing is required to kickstart or scale the business. You might want to read 8 ways to finance your e-commerce business while we shortlist the crowdfunding players here.

There are generally three types of crowdfunding in Malaysia: equity crowdfunding like pitchIN, reward crowdfunding like Mystartr, lending crowdfunding like Funding Societies.

Logistics & Fulfillment

Say you've got your webstore, online payment ready, digital marketing campaigns activated and traffic, orders are coming in so what's next? Logistics & fulfillment is next on your list.

As opposed to financial technology with many non-bank startups, logistics is a capital or assets heavy model hence there are many traditional logistics companies on this list, especially those in last mile delivery.

3PL

Third-party logistics (abbreviated 3PL, or sometimes TPL), is where you outsource your orders fulfillment or shipping. Industry players mentioned here are mainly focused on last mile delivery, and these names are no stranger to anyone who is selling online here.

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3PL in Malaysia

Poslaju
GDex
Skynet
DHL eCommerce

3PL Export

While 3PL above focus on domestic, this section specialize in export. Particularly on DHL, not to be confused as DHL eCommerce focus on local, while DHL Express focus on cross-border.

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3PL Export in Malaysia

DHL Express
LWE Logistics
FedEx
SF Express

3PL Marketplace

Not sure which last mile or courier providers to go with? You can log on to 3PL marketplace to compare shipping rates based on your requirements.

There are two major aggregators in this segment, with EasyParcel founded in Penang while SHIPPOP is originated from Thailand.

Fulfillment

If you are considering to outsource the entire fulfillment process from pick, pack to ship then you can check out some of the fulfillment service providers here. This is also very relevant for brands who are focusing entirely on marketplaces for online sales.

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Fulfillment in Malaysia

iStore iSend
Hubwire
TresGo
SP Commerce

Food & Grocery Delivery

We have recently published an article with in-depth analysis of major food delivery companies in Malaysia. On top of that, we have included grocery delivery companies like HappyFresh here.

If you are running restaurants, cafe or even grocery, this is something you can consider to easily expand your business online by collaborating with these players.

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Food & Grocery in Malaysia

DeliverEat
Foodpanda
Honestbee
HappyFresh

On Demand

On-demand service is like a personal helper to your business, you can order such service to despatch a document, pickup a cheque, or even ship a same-day, last-minute parcel to your customer.

Similar to food and grocery delivery, this segment is filled by Internet startups and the challenge is always to scale up the coverage area, and cope with growing demands.

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On Demand in Malaysia

ZeptoExpress
MatDespatch
GoGet
Zoom Delivery

Alternate Pickup

How does it work? Alternate pickup providers partner with retailers who own multiple physical stores, which act as a pickup point for customers to collect or return parcels.

What's in for retailers? Footfall, but it will be challenging to educate the store staffs (they might be tasked to prioritize sales instead of such servicing) and furthermore, changing customers behaviour.

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Alternate Pickup in Malaysia

PostCo
CollectCo
Pgeon

Parcel Locker

Similar to alternate pickup, parcel locker offers another pickup option especially for consumers who are always on the move (not at home, or not convenient to ship parcels to office).

Located at premises like colleges, residential or commercial buildings and so on, parcel locker also play a role (revenue) as an out-of-home inventory for advertisers.

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Parcel Locker in Malaysia

PopBox (invested by Sunway)
BOXiT (partner with 7-11)
Poslaju EziBox

Government Agencies

Our e-commerce ecosystem can only grow and flourish with support by the government, and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) is spearheading programs like #MYCYBERSALE, National eCommerce Strategic Roadmap, DFTZ etc.

Under the National eCommerce Strategic Roadmap, the National eCommerce Council (NeCC), comprising of various Ministries and Agencies, was established to drive the implementation of the roadmap towards doubling Malaysia’s eCommerce growth rate and reach a GDP contribution of RM 211 billion by 2020.

SME Corporation Malaysia (SME Corp)

Promote and market eCommerce to SMEs.
Improve the scale and effectiveness of SME eCommerce training and talent development.
Create a one-stop e-business portal for SMEs.

Ministry of Finance (MOF)

Require government agencies to use eProcurement to buy goods and services.
Encourage government-linked companies to use eProcurement.

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)

Transform Malaysia’s last-mile delivery network with best-in-class capabilities.

Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (KPDNKK)

Protect consumers’ rights.

Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA)

Transform Malaysia into a regional e-fulfillment hub.

Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI)

Reduce border clearance lead time for inbound and outbound parcels.

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM)

Increase awareness of e-payment innovations, benefits, and security.

Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE)

Promote Malaysian brands in international marketplaces.

* Above is extracted from MDEC website.

Full Malaysia eCommerce Landscape 2018 in Infographic

So here you go, you can also view the full infographic on Pinterest, or download free PDF via the button below.

[##download## Download Infographic in PDF here]

While we hold the final decision to review and list key players in this chart, feel free to leave a comment below if you have any feedback or suggestion.

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