This figure means that online grocery accounted for 2.3 percent of Malaysia’s US$21 billion total grocery market in 2018 (factoring both online and offline sales).
Based on data from eMarketer, that may mean that Malaysia is already ahead of the US when it comes to moving grocery spends online.
However, research firm IGD predicts that online shopping will still account for roughly the same share of Malaysia’s total grocery spend in 2022, suggesting there are still significant differences across estimates and forecasts for the value of Malaysia’s online grocery market.
Despite these discrepancies, the overall story seems consistent: Malaysia will continue to enjoy strong growth in online grocery spend over the coming years.
IGD Asia predicts that online sales value will increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 60 percent between 2017 and 2022, compared to a CAGR of 4.1 percent for the grocery market as a whole between 2018 and 2023.
So who’s best placed to capture a disproportionate share of this increasing market?
Top ecommerce retailers in Malaysia
Malaysia’s online economy sees a good mix of local, regional, and global brands.
Consistent with a trend we’ve seen in various other countries across Southeast Asia, Shopee and Lazada dominate the overall ecommerce landscape in Malaysia.
SimilarWeb data suggests that Shopee’s Malaysian site comes out top in terms of total monthly traffic, attracting an average of more than 22 million visits per month.
Lazada isn’t far behind Shopee in SimilarWeb’s rankings though, with the company’s local Malaysian website attracting an average of 21 million monthly visits between May and July 2019.
The story reverses in App Annie’s ranking of Malaysia’s top mobile shopping apps though, with Lazada attracting more active users than Shopee across the first three months of 2019.
