Mobile commerce to grow further, says iPay88

The mobile commerce (mCommerce) trend in Malaysia is expected to grow further, iPay88 Sdn Bhd (iPay88) executive director Chan Kok Long said.

He said iPay88's mobile traffic is close to 70 percent of total online payment transactions in the Malaysian market.

Last year, 3.7 million iPay88 online shoppers made purchases via mobile devices, up from two million in 2014.

"As at first quarter 2016 (1Q16), 1.6 million online shoppers of iPay88 have purchased using mobile devices and many of our merchants are also actively promoting mobile purchases in 2016 following the mCommerce waves," he said in a statement today.

Chan said the percentage of traffic from mobile channels in its system grew from 27 percent in 2014 to 38.4 percent (2015) and 48.6 percent (1Q16).

He said mobile penetration in Malaysia reached 136 percent in 2015 with 47 percent of Malaysians using their smartphones to shop online.

"Globally, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden are leading the mCommerce evolution with the fastest mobile growth while emerging markets in India, Taiwan and Malaysia are also leading the way for shopping growth on mobile devices," he said.

A survey of mobile shopping last year ranked Malaysia third in Asia in the growth of mobile shopping rate at over 20 percent.

In Malaysia, the top mobile commerce purchases via smartphones are ticketing (35 percent) and marketplace/group buying (29 percent), while airline tickets are the most popular items Malaysians purchase on tablets, Chan said.

He said iPay88 is poised to continue its year-on-year growth rate of over 100 percent, with many deep-pocketed traditional brick-and-mortar conglomerates converting to online platforms to take on their competitors.