Malaysian online shopping habits evolve

More men are shopping online in Malaysia than ever before. And nearly half of the nation’s online shoppers are doing so on mobile devices.

Those are two of the key findings of online marketplace 11street’s Online Shopping Index for 2015.

The split between men and women in the nation’s online shopping community is now 48:52, according to the study based on the four week  Ramadhan and Raya period from June 22 to July 19.

11street said gross merchandise value (GMV) more than doubled during the Ramadhan and Raya period and in just a few months, 11street has achieved various milestones including a rank of 40 on Alexa

Hoseok Kim, 11street CEO, says Malaysia is one of the top leading countries in the world when it comes to smartphone Internet access with the number of connected devices per person used by Malaysians which stood at 1.2 devices.

“As online shopping becomes part of the Malaysian lifestyle, smartphones will play a vital role in enabling shoppers to grab good products and offers online at anytime, anywhere,” said Kim.

The 11street Online Shopping Index shows that contrary to the popular belief that fashion and electronics are the most sought after categories, Malaysians shop in diverse categories including health & beauty, kids & baby, home & living, grocery, services such as e-vouchers and more. Also, popular items that customers mostly searched during Ramadhan include baby car seats, Tupperware, Bluetooth earphones, and skincare.

The index found that customers bought from either two or more product categories within a single transaction and that is expected to increase over the next few years.

By gender, women mostly purchased mobile, tablets, beauty, health and personal products as well as baby and kids items. Men shopped for electronics, sports and leisure items – and kids & baby, especially gear such as baby car seats.

11street currently carries more than 700,000 products making it one of the largest online marketplaces in Malaysia.