Vladimir Vukicevic, analyst at Timetric, says: “The young and urban Malaysians have a strong inclination for mobile devices and media use, giving e-commerce companies a platform to reach more potential customers.”
According to Timetric, this increase in online shopping will create growth in the overall cards and payments industry over the next five years, especially due to the rise in mobile payments (m-payments). The concept of m-payments is still very new to Malaysians, but already rapidly expanding. Timetric’s report shows that the overall m-payment value in Malaysia is set to grow from MYR 1.8 billion (US$ 572.8 million) in 2013 to MYR 7.1 billion (US$ 2.3 billion) in 2018. Vukicevic adds: “The proliferation of smartphones and rising consumer demand for convenient payments will fuel the growth of m-payments in Malaysia over the next couple of years.”
The increase in e-commerce and m-payment activities encouraged PayPal to strengthen its presence in the Malaysian market. As most Malaysian PayPal customers are buying from online shops in the UK, China and the US, PayPal introduced its Zong service in 2011 which enables customers to buy products and services via their mobile phones. Unlike other payment options that oblige customers to provide card details, Zong only requires a mobile number to make a transaction, with the payment amount added to the customers’ monthly mobile bill.