By Presto
5 August 2022
They say that 80% of online businesses fail within 2 years. Inexperience and lack of knowledge, among other reasons, are common explanations for why an online business doesn’t take off. However, there are also cases in which businesses start off in the same situation, or even worse, and are still able to establish themselves well.
Why is that? There are a lot of reasons why, but among them we can find the one that we’ll deal with today: choosing the right product category.
For online merchants, it’s always good to know the demand for your product when assessing a new market to enter. While sources may differ on which products are the most popular when it comes to Malaysian e-commerce, here are the top-selling categories on marketplace:
Electronics and Media
Data from Hootsuite and We Are Social has listed the “Electronics and Physical Media” category as the second largest segment in e-commerce spending at $1.17 billion among consumer goods. The most popular consumer electronics items for Malaysian e-commerce consumers range from cables and converters, home appliances to devices of international brands like Lenovo, Xiaomi and Microsoft according to iPrice.
As further testament to the demand for this category, we notice a notable amount of sales in home appliances like pressure cookers, air fryers and electric ovens.
Men and Women’s Fashion
Statista reports that in 2020, that revenue in the fashion category is expected to reach US$1,831 million in 2021 with apparel taking up the largest portion of the pie with US$1,153 million in market volume.
When it comes to fashion, Malaysians have no shortage of online purchase options. iPrice reports that apart from the usual shopping platforms and sites get a good chunk of monthly visits from Malaysian shoppers. All of these online shopping sites rank in the top 10 of iPrice’s top visited online stores in Malaysia.
Local Malaysian fashion brands also tend to be more popular than regional and even international players, and Instagram is the best springboard for driving sales.
Personal Care and Food
Under Personal Care, Health & Beauty products are widely popular as we saw a considerable number of over 155,000 in beauty and personal care products being sold. While search traffic for cosmetic products have experienced a downtrend, search volumes for keywords relating to “skincare” are growing.
Driven by the demand of Southeast Asian’s growing middle class, premium beauty brands are expected to overtake ‘mass market’ products, rendering health and beauty as one of the better-performing categories.
Furthermore, Malaysians are not averse to buying food deliveries and groceries online. Up till 2020, Milo still remains as one of the top sellers during shopping festivals of the like—with an average of 120 packs being purchased every minute during sales.
Mom & Baby, Kids & Toys
It’s also important not to overlook Mom & Baby categories, as well as Kids & Toys.
Sales of baby clothing and blankets increased by 83% and 266% respectively in a study that compared Malaysians’ online buying behaviour 30 days before and after the imposition of the Movement Control Order (MCO) by the government.
Leverage PrestoDirect to Boost Your E-commerce Business
No doubt that Malaysian e-commerce consumers are attracting online merchants from around Southeast Asia. Hungry for domestic and overseas products, they shop online regularly for a myriad of items, chiefly fashion and beauty products, electronic goods and media, household items and groceries, and even furniture.
With all that being said. it is important to find the right e-commerce platform such as PrestoDirect to bridge the gap between seller and buyer, not only within Malaysia but across all of Southeast Asia.
PrestoDirect is a customizable e-commerce platform that has everything you need to kickstart your business. With zero inventory costs, you can also take advantage of all the features on PrestoDirect and tailor accordingly to your business needs. Be part of our vast network and sell millions of SKUs directly from the factory today!
Start Selling on PrestoDirect!
--------------
Download Presto App now:
