PETALING JAYA: While the shopping crowd at brick and mortar malls has shrunk significantly, the shopping spree continues unabated in cyberspace.
All indications are that the 11.11 Sale last Wednesday has broken many records in terms of sale volume and profits generated.
However, consumer groups have expressed concern that despite the economic fallout as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, and with many people losing their jobs, the urge to splurge continues unchecked.
Shopee, a Singapore-based e-commerce platform, saw sales in Malaysia rise almost three fold.
The platform recorded more than 200 million items sold during this year’s 11.11 Sale, compared with 70 million last year.
Its regional manager director Ian Ho said the sellers participating in the sale also saw 10 times more orders than on an average day.
“Home and living products, electronics, groceries and pet products were the best selling items,” he told theSun.
He said the top 3,000 Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SME) on Shopee achieved an average of RM55,000 in sales on that day.
Overall, the shopping traffic in Malaysia potentially rose about 20 times, a testament to the spending power of Malaysians even as the country is seeing one of the worst economic crises ever.
Shopback said more than RM20 million in sales were generated in the 11.11 Sale in 2019, and it was expected to be exceeded this year.
Lazada chief executive officer Leo Chow said brands such as Lancôme, Xiaomi Global and OnePlus Flagship Store all recorded sales of over RM1 million each on that day.
“Smartphones and tablets were the number one sellers,” he said.
He said new SME that joined through Lazada’s stimulus initiatives since March accounted for 40% of the most active sellers in the 11.11 Sale.
“Collectively, they sold more than 680,000 items. The stimulus initiatives have helped the local SME community digitalise their businesses and bounce back from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Chow added.
On the Alibaba Group platform, Malaysians ranked the fourth biggest buyers of items from China, after the Americans, Russians and French.
Locally, Selangor clocked the highest volume in shopping activities, at 650,000 items purchased in an hour at the peak on Nov 11, with one particular buyer making a single transaction amounting to RM70,000.
However, the Consumers Association of Penang struck a cautionary note on the 11.11 Sale.
“This may encourage excessive consumption and purchasing of unnecessary items which will not be useful for the consumer and the environment and create more waste,” said its president Mohideen Abdul Kader.
“This is a dangerous and irresponsible trend as we encourage consumption during a period where people are losing their incomes and jobs. It may create massive household debt and even bankruptcies if consumers fall into this trap of overspending,” said Mohideen.
Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations chief executive officer Datuk Paul Selvaraj believes that consumer and financial education is important.
“We need to empower consumers to protect themselves, especially when the pressures of spending are so high. The government can do its part by regulating sales and advertising, but more important is consumer education, especially in the hard times we are facing right now,” he said.
Source: https://www.thesundaily.my/local/new-online-sales-record-FB5164878