E-commerce in Malaysia is growing at an accelerated rate in 2020. This is in part thanks to COVID-19, which forced the majority of Malaysians to shift their work and personal lives indoors.
With more Malaysians buying online than ever before, businesses everywhere are starting to see the importance of digitising their business. Many traditionally brick and mortar business have launched their own e-commerce sites.
There's little doubt that e-commerce is here to stay in - so, which sites are leading the race in e-commerce in Malaysia? More importantly, what can you learn from the business models they are adapting?
In this post, I've gathered the top 10 most popular e-commerce websites in Malaysia based on Alexa's latest rankings.
Figures are accurate as of August 2020.
#1. Shopee.com.my
Alexa Ranking: #3 in Malaysia
Estimated Monthly Visitors: 35.9m
Shopee is currently the most popular e-commerce website in Malaysia. It is an online marketplace that connects buyers with sellers.
Launched in 2015, it is a relatively new e-commerce marketplace player compared to pioneers like Lelong, and Lazada.
It rose in popularity in Malaysia thanks to its generous free shipping promotion for buyers and zero commissions for sellers in the early days. Shopee's easy to use mobile app has allowed its continued popularity.
For Malaysians who want to start selling on Shopee, you can get started by following this easy guide.
#2. Lazada.com.my
Alexa Ranking: #9 in Malaysia
Estimated Monthly Visitors: 13.54m
At one point the most popular e-commerce website and marketplace in Malaysia, nowadays, Lazada has fallen to the number two spot. Though, it is still ahead of pioneer marketplace players like Lelong.
Lazada is also a great place to get started selling online. Learn how to do that by following this easy guide.
#3. Mudah.my
Alexa Ranking: #18 in Malaysia
Estimated Monthly Visitors: 8m
Mudah is Malaysia's largest classifieds listings website. Unlike e-commerce marketplaces like Shopee and Lazada, Mudah does not facilitate buy and sell transactions on its site. Rather, deals found on the website are transacted outside of the website between buyer and seller.
#4. Amazon.com
Alexa Ranking: #26 in Malaysia
Estimated Monthly Visitors: 2.58bn
Amazon is one of the most popular e-commerce sites in the world.
If you're interested to sell on Amazon, you can check out ProvenAmazonCourse.com.
#5. AliExpress.com
Alexa Ranking: #36 in Malaysia
Estimated Monthly Visitors: 442.53m
AliExpress is the retail marketplace arm of Alibaba.com. Buyers from Malaysia prefer buying from AliExpress thanks to its cheap prices and wide selection of products.
#6. Taobao.com
Alexa Ranking: #43 in Malaysia
Estimated Monthly Visitors: 440.49m
Taobao is a Chinese marketplace site. Thanks to its cheap prices, Taobao has become one of Malaysians' favourite online shopping destinations.
Conclusion
As you can see, the biggest e-commerce websites in Malaysia are mainly dominated by online marketplaces.
What this means for you is that on top of building your own e-commerce website, it is also worth adding e-commerce marketplaces as a distribution channel if you haven't done that already.
Nonetheless, other than leveraging on the e-commerce marketplaces as distribution channels, you can also take the lessons of growth and apply them to your own website.
The same can be said of the branded e-commerce sites that have grown even in the presence of competitive prices offered by e-commerce marketplaces.
20 Responses
Can you do a write up on amazon reseller in malaysia and how to get started doing it in Malaysia ?
Thank you.
Hey Nicholas,
I’d love to, but it’s not something I’ve explored personally yet. Nonetheless, when I do manage to profit from Amazon I’ll do a write-up.
– Lu Wee
Thank you
What is your opinion on alidropship e-commerce ?
Hi Nicholas, you mean the plugin for WooCommerce?
For both the plugin and custom store.
Thank You
Oh I see, I’ve not used any of them before unfortunately! I’m testing Shopify related plugins mostly like Oberlo.
Nonetheless, I think Alidropship is worth trying too. I’ll test it out and write a review for it after! Thanks for the suggestion Nicholas!
Thank you
Hi, may i know the date this article is published?
Hi Aiman,
List articles like this are constantly being updated, so I’m unable to give you the publish date, or it will be misleading to yourself and other readers.
Hi,
Would you give us advice on paymer gateway and how to set it up if I operate the e-commerce site from Malaysia but targeting internatiinal customers ?
Thank You
Hey Nicholas,
Sure – PayPal is one of the best ones to start with, because it is globally recognised and Malaysians can open account. Hope it helps!
– Lu Wee
Thank you.
Hi Wee Tang,
Can you include Reebonz Malaysia? They are selling luxury items.
Thank you
Hey Vincent,
Sure – I’ll add it in when I refresh this list. Thanks!
Hi,
What is your opinion on Shophelper by Cason and Alidropship ?
Can one really succeed bearing in mind that there are thousands and thousands of people doing the same thing with the same strategies by these companies ?
Thank You.
Hi,
I’ve never tried Shophelper or Alidropship so I can’t give my opinion on that. For Alidropship, I am coming up with a case study in the future so that will give you a better idea.
Depends what you mean by success. Is it making $1m/year, $1m/month, or RM1,000/month?
Personally speaking, you always have a chance, but you need to put in the time, energy and money investment first.
Hope this helps!
– Lu Wee
Thank You
Hi Lu,
Excellent article. How do sell on Shopee malyasia from the Philippines ?
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