iPrice Group's Q3 2018 Map of E-Commerce indicates continual rise of Shopee and 11street

• Competition will intensify in Q4 2018 as big year-end sales continue
• Mobile-specific deals engine of growth for Shopee and 11street

iPrice Group recently updated its Map of E-commerce that ranks Malaysia’s top 50 e-commerce merchants based on the group's latest Q3 2018 data. The rankings were based on data points such as web visits, mobile application rankings, social media followers and number of employees.

The top e-commerce merchants are Lazada with an average of 23 million monthly web visits followed by Shopee at 15 million and 11street at 7 million average monthly web visits.

Key highlights in Q3 2018

iPrice compared the monthly web visits between Malaysia’s top five e-commerce merchants in Q2 and Q3 2018, finding that Shopee and 11street were the key gainers, experiencing 28% and 21% increase respectively.

In the past quarter, the key web traffic drivers were the MyCyberSale (3-7 September) and 9.9 sales (9 September).

This year, the fourth annual MyCyberSale was led by the National ICT Association of Malaysia (PIKOM) and was estimated to garner RM370 million in gross merchandise value (GMV). Key players driving the local online sale period were the country’s top e-commerce merchants along with small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

In September 2018, Lazada and Shopee were highly active for the 9.9 sales (9 September). Both e-commerce merchants launched the sale period in an extravagant manner, promoted additional consumer protection features, improved delivery times and introduced attractive promotions.  The two e-commerce leaders also launched the sale campaign across Southeast Asia and experienced a boost in web visits on 9 September and the days leading to it.

With the ever-increasing usage of mobile by consumers today, shopping applications have played a significant role in the development of e-commerce in Q3 2018 as well. Leading the charge are Shopee and Lazada, where both players introduced mobile-specific deals to increase the usage of their respective mobile shopping applications.

According to experts, mobile application rankings on both iOS and Android’s app stores are determined by factors such as the title of the app, number of downloads, user rating and reviews and others.

Top Malaysian-Based E-commerce Merchants

The most visited Malaysian-based e-commerce merchants are Lelong, GoShop, Hermo, FashionValet, and CJWOWSHOP. The oldest player in the list, Lelong, which was established since the late 90s, is the only e-commerce merchant to exceed more than 5 million monthly web visits in Q3 2018.

E-commerce’s most important quarter (Q4 2018) and beyond

Based on 2017 data, e-commerce merchants are expected to experience a 30% increase in monthly web visits at the final quarter of the year. Q4 2018 will be the most important period for e-commerce players in Malaysia since almost all major online sale campaigns takes place near the end of the year. Among the most important sale periods are the 10.10 sale, 11.11 sale (also known as Singles Day), 12.12 sale, and year-end sales.

From a long-term perspective, the annual Budget 2019 announcement by the Malaysian government on 2 November 2018 is expected to play a vital role in the development of the digital sector. According to analysts, among the biggest initiatives to be announced is the Digital Tax, which aims to level the playing field for all businesses in the digital economy.

More insights on Malaysia’s top 50 e-commerce merchants can be found at our interactive content: https://iprice.my/insights/mapofecommerce/en/

Related Stories

iPrice Group welcomes South Korea’s Naver as new investor

iPrice Group releases Q1 2018 findings on Malaysia's top 50 E-Commerce sites

Malaysian online shoppers prefer to shop via desktop: iPrice