KUALA LUMPUR: Despite the weakened economy, Malaysians are entering into the festive spirit, with 6 in 10 shoppers expected to spend more or the same amount during the upcoming holiday season, as compared to last year.
According to the latest PayPal survey, the average festive spend amongst Malaysians this year is expected to be RM730, with Chinese New Year topping the spending charts and averaging RM954 per person.
PayPal is an online payment service owned by Internet auction giant eBay.
Malaysians also proved to be savvy online shoppers, with more than half intending to shop online and 44% of overall holiday expenditure expected to be spent online.
They cited time (75%), crowds (64%) and access to a wider range of products (51%) as the main reasons for avoiding the brick-and-mortar shops.
Two in five Malaysians prefer buying from online overseas merchants, citing product availability and choice, the offer of well-known brands and a more appealing website experience as the top reasons for shopping overseas.
Yet, overseas sellers should take note of buyer dislikes — high delivery fees, lengthy delivery times and lack of contact during a dispute were cited as the major disadvantages to shopping on overseas websites.
Shopping overseas
When it comes to online shopping, Malaysians are looking for a wider product range, assurance in payment security and product quality for the optimum online shopping experience.
“Many online merchants will be gearing up for the festive period and encouragingly it looks like spending is due to remain stable, if not rise in Malaysia,” said Mario Shiliashki, general manager of PayPal South-East Asia and India.
“Out of the four countries surveyed, Malaysia showed the strongest preference for overseas merchants online.”
The PayPal survey was conducted by BlackBox from Aug 17 to 30. There were a total of 1,203 participants — 300 respondents per country in India, Singapore and Malaysia, as well as 303 in Thailand.
Respondents were made up of online and non-online shoppers, and the major festive seasons polled were Christmas, Chinese New Year and Hari Raya.
To allow Asian merchants to connect with international online buyers and drive cross-border trade, PayPal recently launched an online Asia Mall at www.paypal-apac.com/apac-mall.
For more information on PayPal, go to www.paypal.com/my.
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