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The ‘PayPal Online and Mobile Shopping Insights 2011’ study revealed that 2011 was a milestone year for mobile commerce in Malaysia fuelled by a rise in the number of mobile shoppers and a substantial increase in spend per head. The mobile commerce market in Malaysia saw phenomenal growth from RM101 million in 2010 to RM467 million in 2011, representing more than a 370-percent jump in just one year.
The mobile commerce market is also forecasted to grow more than seven times to reach RM3.43 billion in 2015 which translates to 60-percent of the online shopping market. This shows that mobile commerce will play an increasingly significant role in the overall commerce market as Internet-enabled mobile devices become a key part of Malaysians’ daily lives.
The results of the mobile commerce study are staggering and show just how quickly shopping and paying on mobile devices has taken off in Malaysia. There were 642,770 Malaysians who made a purchase through a mobile device in 2011, compared to 253,960 in the previous year. Mobile shoppers constituted close to half (40-percent) of all online shoppers in 2011, compared to about one in five (22-percent) in 2010.
Mobile shopping spend comprised about a quarter of all online shopping in 2011, four times its share of the online shopping market in 2010. Median spend saw a substantial increase at RM500 in 2011 as compared to RM387 in 2010.
Elias Ghanem, Managing Director, PayPal Southeast Asia and India commented, “As we had predicted, 2011 was a breakthrough year for mobile commerce in Malaysia registering a 370-percent jump in just one year. There is a clear potential for Malaysians to take up mobile commerce even faster than online shopping as many Malaysians prefer to access the Internet on their mobile devices over desktops and notebooks. Mobile commerce is now mainstream and Malaysian businesses need to invest in mobile friendly retail initiatives to take advantage of this major change in consumer shopping behaviour.”
In addition to the overall growth of the mobile commerce market, PayPal’s study showed how mobile shopping behavior is changing, from the differences in purchasing behaviour between smartphone and tablet shoppers to new forms of mobile shopping via QR (Quick Response) codes. “At PayPal, we are bringing new mobile payment innovation to Malaysia such as mobile-optimised checkout and QR code enabled shopping for small businesses and bigger brands like Courts Malaysia,” added Elias Ghanem.
Smartphones – the hero of mobile commerce as compared to tablets
The study revealed that Malaysians spent RM337 million through their smartphones in 2011 – representing close to three quarters of the total mobile commerce market – compared to RM108 million through tablets. The median spend per head on smartphones was RM494 which is slightly higher than the median spend of RM464 via tablets.
The survey findings revealed a clear trend in couch commerce with almost 40-percent of purchases on both tablets and smartphones made at home. The office was the next common place to shop (20-percent of smartphone users and 16-percent of tablet users). Besides home and office other common places to shop using mobile devices were restaurants and while in-transit.
Mobile shopping is much broader than just digital downloads with ‘movie tickets’ and ‘fashion and accessories’ seen as hot favourites for both smartphone and tablet shoppers.
QR codes enable 24 by 7 mobile shopping and blur the lines between online and offline commerce Smartphones are increasingly bridging the gap between the online and offline retail worlds. The study revealed that Quick Response (QR) codes are gaining popularity among Malaysian smartphone shoppers. Almost four out of every ten smartphone users were aware of QR codes, and of those who were aware, nearly 6 out of 10 had used QR codes for an average of 13 transactions in 2011. The most common items purchased through QR codes were books, baby and child products, computer hardware and movie tickets.
Ease-of-use and curiosity were cited as the main drivers of mobile transactions via QR codes. QR codes provide retailers the benefit of launching virtual pop-up stores across all channels and enable 24 by 7 mobile shopping to complement brick-and-mortar stores.
