Source: https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2020-malaysia

As one of the most urbanized regions in Southeast Asia, Malaysia plays a key role in the e-commerce market. Digital media in Malaysia are experiencing explosive growth and gaining credibility as mainstream. This article will discover the digital landscape, trends and opportunities of Malaysia with you.

Digital marketing landscape in Malaysia

According to internet reports, we can tell that most Malaysians are urbanized and well-educated with 76% urbanization rate. This lead to high internet consumption. 83% of Malaysian are now online while 81% of them are active social media users.

Digital landscape of Malaysia

Malaysia netizens' daily time spent with media is pretty long compared to other Southeast Asia regions. Their average time spent on the internet is nearly 8 hours, including 2 hours 45 minutes for social media and 2 hours 59 minutes for video.

Insight: Social media and videos are hot trends in Malaysia which provide opportunities for marketers.

Malaysia’s daily time spent with media

Speaking of mobile usage, 96% of Malaysia netizens access the internet via smartphones with a daily time spent 4 hours 3 minutes on mobile devices.

Insight: Mobile internet usage continues to rise and will become the mainstream in Malaysia.

Malaysia’s mobile internet use

98% of Malaysia netizens watch online videos while 70% of them spend their time on music streaming services each month.

Insight: Malaysia netizens are engaged with video content and it could be a potential way to reach the target audience in Malaysia.

Malaysia’s online content activities

We can tell that Malaysians are attached to social media with results that 100% of internet users used social media networks in Dec 2019 and 91% of them actively engaged with or contributed to social media. Meanwhile, they get 9.7 social media accounts in average.

Malaysia’s social media behaviours

For e-commerce activities, 91% of Malaysia netizens searched online for products/ services they want to buy while 90% of them visited an online retail store. 82% of them took action to purchase a product online.

Insight: E-commerce activities are popular in Malaysia.

Malaysia’s e-commerce activities

Most Popular Digital Marketing Channels in Malaysia

Top 5 Most-Used Social Media Platforms

The top 5 most-used social media platforms are YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Facebook Messenger.

Insight: Malaysia netizens stick with typical social media platforms. On the other hand, messaging services are popular.

Most-used social media platforms in Malaysia

Top 5 Mobile Apps

The result of top 5 mobile apps are similar with most-used social media platforms which are WhatsApp, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram and Waze. It’s worth noticing that e-commerce platforms from Singapore, Lazada and Shopee, ranked 7th and 8th in mobile app.

Insight: Malaysia netizens have shown their loyalty towards WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram. Meanwhile, Lazada and Shopee could be potential customer touchpoints in Malaysia.

Mobile app rankings in Malaysia

Digital Marketing Opportunities in Malaysia

1. Rise of Mobile Traffic in Malaysia

As mentioned from above, mobile traffic has become mainstream in Malaysia. Mobile user experience is becoming a key factor to keep customers and mobile responsive website is a must. It’s suggested to ensure your website is mobile-friendly by taking tests and rearranging the website layout if needed. To improve conversion rate and engagement, Call to Action (CTA) buttons are essential for your website.

2. Omni-channel approach in Malaysia

With a large number of digital platforms in Malaysia, the majority of shoppers hit multiple touchpoints before making purchase decisions. Omni-channel strategies are expected to be widely utilized on marketing plans, which help to improve user experience and drive better relationships with audiences across multi touchpoints. To develop omni-channel strategies, a detailed research would be the first step to figure out which platforms, mediums, and devices your customers use on a daily basis. Marketers might then set up conversion tracking on websites to track data and create ads on several key platforms.

3. Chatbot Automation in Malaysia

Response time is part of user experience. Netizens usually expect to get responses ASAP nowadays. Therefore, chatbots are getting more and more common to suit the needs. Compared with traditional channels, marketers can set messages or FAQs templates on chatbots to reply messages automatically and immediately. Chatbots are mainly divided into two types - website chatbots and messenger chatbots. Website chatbots are installed on websites to answer the common questions asked by visitors while messenger chatbots can work on the messenger platforms to follow up with visitors or send them promotion offers.

Summary of Digital Marketing in Malaysia

Malaysia is a potential region to stand out among Southeast Asia with its high consumption of internet and urbanization rate. To take place in Malaysia’s digital market, mobile traffic, omni-channel approach and chatbot automation will be key points when you initiate your marketing plans. Click here to learn more about how our all-rounded digital solutions help you to fit in the digital market of Malaysia.

About AsiaPac Net Media

With an extensive digital marketing experience of serving more than 2,500 clients across Asia in sectors such as education, travel and hospitality, finance, Government and others, AsiaPac’s expert team is highly recognized for the excellence in providing performance-driven services to businesses across Asia, and global corporates targeting Asia markets. If you’d like to learn more about AsiaPac and the work we’ve done, visit our Work page. For more information on AsiaPac/ AdTech and our services, please contact us at info@asiapac.com.hk/ info@adtechinno.com.