3 lessons we can learn from Malaysia’s most visited ecommerce stores

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This article is part of Tech in Asia’s partnership with iPrice Group where we publish the firm’s valuable insights on various ecommerce markets in Asia. For more articles in this series, go here.

The final quarter of the year is the season for Malaysia’s most popular online sale periods. This includes 11.11 (also known as Singles Day), Black Friday, 12.12, and other year-end sales. This is ecommerce’s most crucial period, where revenue and online traffic are set to double.

In 2015, most consumers had little to no idea what Singles Day and 12.12 are. But beginning in 2017, these two sale periods have been the most vital events in Malaysia’s digital space, and this trend is expected to continue for the next few years.

Most popular online sale periods of 2017 – Ecommerce Rewind 2017.

This shows how fast consumer preferences can change in just a few years. As such, the key winners in the industry are the ones who keep up with shifting consumer behavior and become trendsetters.

To gain some insight on how to do that, we looked at three of the most successful ecommerce platforms in Malaysia. Our latest study ranks Lelong, Hermo, and FashionValet as the three most visited homegrown ecommerce stores as of Q2 2018.

Here’s what we can learn from them.

Evolve relentlessly to stay relevant

One such player who has braved through the tough times in ecommerce and remained relevant is Lelong.

To date, Lelong remains one of the key pioneers in ecommerce in Malaysia. Unlike other players, it is the only ecommerce platform that was established prior to the turn of the millennium, around 1998.

Co-founder Richard Tan believes in starting out small and building on a niche before expanding. During the 1990s, there was no lack of hype surrounding online shopping, thanks to Amazon’s huge success in the US. However, consumers were still very new to online shopping and unsure if merchants could be trusted.

Replicate foreign success and personally connect with your consumers

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