M’sians spent 13% more on Singles Day this year

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian consumers spent an average of RM277 on each online order during Singles Day (Nov 11,2019), 113% more than the average household spending in a single day.

Data from iPrice revealed a 13% increase in consumer spending when compared with previous years, from RM245 (average in 2018 and 2017) to RM277 on Nov 11 this year.

Secondly, consumers spent the most money on electronics and automotive items. They spent an average of RM422 on electronics, and RM228 on automotive products on Nov 11.

“This is remarkable, as automotive products were not always considered a popular category when it comes to online shopping. Looking into automotive sub-categories, shoppers spent the most on car care and care accessory items, ” said iPrice in a statement.

In electronics, Malaysians spent the most on items such as lighting and electronics for home or office usage.

iPrice Group, a Malaysian-based information aggregator platform, analysed data for more than a week from more than 150 online merchants, and more than 43 million products in the country to reveal the following 11.11 sale insights.

The rationale of this study was to analyse consumer behaviour and the growing interest in the online sale event, which was first made popular by Alibaba in China.

Various e-commerce companies, both large and small, undertook massive marketing initiatives to promote the event on Nov 11,2019.

Meanwhile, the kids and toys, and home and living categories recorded the highest growth.

Both categories saw a 94% and 89% increase in consumer average spending, respectively.

“This shows positive consumer confidence in a wider range of product variety in the e-commerce arena, ” said iPrice.

In 2019, consumers spent an average of RM223 on kids and toys, and home and living items. On Singles’ Day in 2018, consumers spent RM115 on kids and toys and RM118 on home and living items.

There was also high spending on non-conventional sub-categories such as gym equipment, watches, and eye-care products.

Interestingly, Malaysian shoppers spent an average of RM683 on gym equipment, RM392 on watches and RM416 on eye-care products on Singles Day.

iPrice said the high spending on these items was most likely caused by the high-value price tag of those products.

Observing the growth trends over the past five years in Malaysia, iPrice said there was still much room for growth.

“This is also clear as seen through the 13% growth in the average basket size on Singles’ Day between 2019 and the previous years. Added with the diversification of consumer spending on a wide variety of products other than fashion and electronics, this shows big potential for growth for e-commerce companies selling niche products, ” said iPrice.

iPrice Group is a meta-search website operating in seven countries across South-East Asia, namely, in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

Currently, iPrice compares and catalogues more than 500 million products and receives about 20 million monthly visits across the region.

Source: TheStar