iPay88 Sdn Bhd (iPay88) recorded 38.2 million online transactions last year via its payment gateway systems, for a 161 per cent increase, from the 14.6 million in 2015.

Executive Director Lim Kok Hing said despite the perceived sluggish overall economy, there is solid evidence that Malaysians are purchasing from online platforms more than before.

"We would have thought that consumers are tightening belts due to a squeeze in their disposable income with the current economic 'winter'.

"However, iPay88's payment system proves that e-commerce and online purchases rose by 210 per cent over the same comparable period," he said in a statement today.

This is in line with the company's findings on Malaysian's Online Buying Patterns, derived from the statistics collected via iPay88 payment gateway systems, which currently represents over 70 per cent of the nation's e-commerce market.

Lim attributed the high volume of online transactions to the convenience of shopping online, as well as the ability to get better deals on the Internet.

Meanwhile, in the first quarter 2017, Lim said online payments and transactional data in Malaysia, showed no waning of interest on online purchases and spending trends.

"Among popular online purchases are apparel and footwear, accessories and jewelry, electronics and sports equipment, each with recorded sales of RM25.3 million, RM1.7 million, RM5.1 million and RM3.3 million respectively," he added.

iPay88 is an NTT Data company and Malaysian-based leading provider of online payment service solutions within ASEAN. -- Bernama