A for AirAsia
It can’t be more fitting to have AirAsia leading the list, as the online booking site is the key driver behind first real e-commerce penetration in Malaysia since 2001.
B for Blogshop
Blogshop is an unique phenomenon that only happens in Malaysia and Singapore, wherein sellers (most of them amateur) use blogs to sell their products.
C for Cash on Delivery
Cash On Delivery (COD), despite its operational challenge for merchants, is quite popular in this part of the world as the payment / delivery method.
D for Duriana
Duriana is one of the symbolic mobile C2C marketplaces here alongside with Carousell. Duriana was based in Malaysia with a very local durian logo even though none of the founding team is Malaysian.
E for Ensogo
There is no longer LivingSocial, MyDeal, Dealmates in case you are not aware, all of them have been consolidated to Ensogo now.
F for F-Commerce
Similar to the blogshop, Facebook and forum are also popular channels that facilitates buy and sell activities in Malaysia, hence “F-Commerce”.
G for Groupon
After AirAsia, Groupon led more than 100 group buying or deal sites (most of them no longer exist now) in the second major e-commerce uptake in Malaysia.
H for Hermo
Hermo is a good example on how e-commerce startups can build their strength focussing on a specific vertical, in this case beauty.
I for Instagram
If only Instagram enables link or facilitates transaction we would have “I-Commerce” nevertheless this is a huge media especially for fashion sellers.
J for Jack Ma
It didn’t happen to Jeff Bezos but Jack Ma is glorified and idolised here by Chinese media and businessmen recently; hence, many aiming to be the Malaysian’s Jack Ma.
K for Korean-backed ventures
Not only Americans, Germans, Japanese are here but Koreans are getting active in this market lately with Astro — GS Home and Celcom — SK Planet adding to the existing list consist of Qoo10.
L for Lelong, Lazada
The “double L” are currently the marketplace leaders in Malaysia with the local kingpin Lelong confronting big money backing ventures spearheaded by Lazada.
M for Mudah
Prior to Lazada and gang, Mudah (technically an online classified site) invested big marketing dollars shooting itself up to one of the most visited websites in Malaysia.
N for Nuffnang
Nuffnang being the leading blog advertising company here did venture into e-commerce under the brand of Jipaban but it is no longer in operation now.
O for Online to Offline
Online to Offline (O2O) is becoming a buzzword here; in fact, Groupon is enabling O2O since a couple of years. Recently, we have seen an increase usage of LINE as a media to drive O2O campaigns.
P for PM Culture
P can be easily assigned to other keywords like Poslaju, but this has to be reserved for PM (private messaging). PM culture is a norm in Malaysia where users tend to PM the sellers, asking questions like “pm best price” or just simply “pm” expecting sellers to reply and serve them personally.
Q for Qoo10
Q is a non-competitive alphabet, so this is none other than Qoo10. Qoo10 here is not as successful as its Singapore counterpart but remains in the challenger group to the double L and perhaps soon the fellow countrymen.
R for Retail
Malaysians are still frequenting shopping malls but brick and mortars are generally facing challenge in retail sales, therefore many of them are going online.
S for Smartphone
Google says one in two Malaysian adults are smartphone users, and 35 per cent access the Internet only via smartphone, what does it tell you? Rather than “we should also think of mobile”, why not having “mobile-first” mentality?
T for Tesco Online Shopping
In 2013, Tesco launched its Malaysia online shopping site with serious commitments (marketing, operation, fulfillment), perhaps the boldest one among the big name retailers here, backed by its know-how in UK and other countries.
U for UniFi
Forget about the monopoly, we wouldn’t be able to shop online hassle-free (*cough*) without the broadband service provider, right?
V for Video
Malaysians are big consumer of video and content. TV is no longer enough to satisfy Malaysians’ appetite for content, which they can simultaneously engage with other digital activities like social media, online shopping etc. via smartphone or tablet.
W for Wei Kwok Seing
There is Jeff in United States, Jack in China, but who is the equivalent figure in Malaysia? The answer (at least for us) is Wei, the Co-founder of Lelong.my.
X for Xiaomi
Smartphone penetration, mobile Internet penetration, or even e-commerce growth is contributed by affordable Chinese smartphone brands like Xiaomi.
Y for Yellow Pages
Do you still remember yellow pages? This has been murdered by the Internet and even the “yellow pages” Google search volume is diminishing.
Z for Zilzar
We would have picked Zalora here but everyone knows about it here. How about Zilzar, the Islamic answer to Amazon? Its CEO predicted that within two to three months the site will have more halal suppliers than Alibaba.
