{"id":5719,"date":"2020-08-30T12:52:12","date_gmt":"2020-08-30T04:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=5719"},"modified":"2020-08-30T12:52:17","modified_gmt":"2020-08-30T04:52:17","slug":"digital-economy-continues-with-its-growth-momentum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=5719","title":{"rendered":"Digital economy continues with its growth momentum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30\u00a0\u00a0— The Malaysian digital economy is set to\u00a0continue its growth momentum with\u00a0more brands and businesses, especially the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)\u00a0digitalizing their operations, said\u00a0leading e-commerce platform, Lazada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the same token, shoppers too have become even more confident in shopping for their essential needs online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lazada Malaysia chief executive officer\u00a0Leo Chow said the way consumers shop\u00a0and pay\u00a0for their purchases is evolving\u00a0at a great pace, especially after the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) on March 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMalaysians appear upbeat about technological advancements in payment solutions as they are quick to recognize the\u00a0benefits of using digital payment solutions,\u201d he said to\u00a0Bernama, adding that\u00a0the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital adoption among consumers, sellers, brands, and retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chow said\u00a0the number of new sellers on Lazada grew by more than 200 percent in the first half of the year, and noted that\u00a0Malaysians are also increasingly looking towards online solutions for their everyday needs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He cited a recent study by market research and insights solutions provider, Vodus, which found that half of the Malaysian adult population had shopped for non-food items online during the MCO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the\u00a0online shoppers, 35 percent\u00a0only started shopping online for the first time\u00a0when the MCO started, which translates to a 53 percent\u00a0growth in Malaysia\u2019s online shopper population, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With more Malaysians embracing the digital lifestyle, Lazada has also seen its digital payments solution, Lazada Wallet, becoming the go-to-choice and the most preferred payment method on the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring our recent 7.7 Mid-Year Super Sale, we saw close to\u00a0a 40 percent\u00a0increase in Lazada Wallet\u2019s adoption rate year-on-year, and today, one\u00a0in three\u00a0Lazada Malaysia customers opt for Lazada Wallet for their transactions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chow said digital payments\u00a0are safer, as well as more efficient and cost-effective as shoppers and sellers\u00a0no longer need to handle physical money or go to the bank to deposit or withdraw money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"digital\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll transactions are done online or virtually,\u201d he said, adding that digital payments are virtually instantaneous and not geographically limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chow said consumers recognize that cashless payments reduce the hassle of having to visit automated\u00a0teller machines (ATM)\u00a0to withdraw cash, eliminating\u00a0the burden of keeping notes and coins and makes tracking of purchases easier and more transparent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is also evident that merchants are responding to this behavior by increasing their digital acceptance footprint,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In emergency situations that lead to unexpected income shocks such as the current COVID-19 crisis, speed, and timely delivery can be of the essence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digital payments or remittances from abroad and government assistance can be made with minimum delay when the need is greatest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe applaud the government\u2019s efforts in accelerating the country’s migration to electronic payments (e-payments) to quicken the pace of e-wallet adoption,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also a huge safety and security factor to consider as well, said Chow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oftentimes, recipients of cash payments have to travel considerable distances to receive their payments, leaving them particularly vulnerable to street crimes once they carry the cash due to the lack of transactional anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversely, digital payments today are secured with cutting-edge technologies, such as point-to-point encryption, tokenisation, passwords, biometrics, out-of-band authentication, one-time password (OTP) via SMS, as well as security questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chow said mobile payments have also expanded from a niche service for digital consumers to mainstream use in the span of several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDue to increasing customer demands for a smoother check-out experience and easier refunds when shopping online, we launched Lazada Wallet in 2018 as a new way for shoppers to make payments for their online purchases on Lazada, offering one-click payment and exclusive discounts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Powered by Alipay.com, Lazada Wallet leverages leading e-commerce payment technology and experience, including payment processing and fraud management services — meeting the necessary requirements outlined by Bank Negara Malaysia, including full-penetration testing and end-to-end encryption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the government continues to support and focus its efforts on building the nation\u2019s digital economy infrastructure through its various initiatives, forming greater public and private alliances to drive this national agenda, Malaysia is poised to demonstrate what a progressive country will look like as it transitions towards becoming a digital economy powerhouse in the region, added Chow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

— BERNAMA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30\u00a0\u00a0— The Malaysian digital economy is set to\u00a0continue its growth momentum with\u00a0more…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,524],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-nation"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/26fdee34aca35a4b37b9c2c3bb73f2e15f4b233ca3f16.jpg",1050,586,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/26fdee34aca35a4b37b9c2c3bb73f2e15f4b233ca3f16-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/26fdee34aca35a4b37b9c2c3bb73f2e15f4b233ca3f16-300x167.jpg",300,167,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/26fdee34aca35a4b37b9c2c3bb73f2e15f4b233ca3f16-768x429.jpg",640,358,true],"large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/26fdee34aca35a4b37b9c2c3bb73f2e15f4b233ca3f16-1024x571.jpg",640,357,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/26fdee34aca35a4b37b9c2c3bb73f2e15f4b233ca3f16.jpg",1050,586,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/26fdee34aca35a4b37b9c2c3bb73f2e15f4b233ca3f16.jpg",1050,586,false],"newsium-slider-full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/26fdee34aca35a4b37b9c2c3bb73f2e15f4b233ca3f16.jpg",1050,586,false],"newsium-featured":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/26fdee34aca35a4b37b9c2c3bb73f2e15f4b233ca3f16.jpg",1024,571,false],"newsium-medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/26fdee34aca35a4b37b9c2c3bb73f2e15f4b233ca3f16.jpg",720,402,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Editor"]},"category_info":"Economy<\/a> Nation<\/a>","tag_info":"Nation","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5721,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5719\/revisions\/5721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}