Malaysians now shop online more than ever despite the perceived sluggish economy. Interestingly, most of that online shopping occurs during office hours. This new data is based on iPay88's findings on Malaysians' Online Buying Patterns derived from real statistics of iPay88 payment gateway systems.

According to iPay88, spikes in online shopping actually happen during weekdays (Mon- Fri) with the two daily peak hours at 11am to 3pm and 7pm to 11pm.

Meanwhile, the more popular days are in the later part of the week: working days of Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

However, this trend decreases over the weekend; possibly due to how Malaysians tend to go offline on Saturday and Sunday.

iPay88 currently represents over 70 per cent of the nationâ€™s entire eCommerce market; recorded 38.2 million online transactions via its payment gateway systems, which is a substantial increase of 161 per cent (from 14.6 million in 2015).

According to Executive Director of iPay88, Lim Kok Hing, there is solid evidence that Malaysians are buying online more than ever.

"Over the review period, we would have thought that consumers are tightening their belts due to a squeeze in their disposable income in view of the current economic winter"

"However, iPay88's payment system shows otherwise as eCommerce and online purchases went up by 210 per cent over the same comparable periodâ€.

Lim also said that there is a functional motive that is directly related to the convenience of shopping online as well as the ability to get better deals online.

Pic: Lim Kok Hing, Executive Director of iPay88

"Online shoppers do not just shop when they are desktop-bound but using mobile phone is just as easy. Apart from that, another factor that would encourage online shopping when government starts to implement the abolishment of tariffs imposed on items being shipped into the country that are priced over RM500."

Based on iPay88's online payment and transactional data, Malaysian consumerism trends in the first quarter of the 2017 showcases a positive outlook.

Spending trends at market places have not slowed down but instead there was a volume growth of 293 per cent. Market place shoppers are more likely to purchase online games, general ticketing, fashion and apparel.

People are spending more online while the type of goods purchased online remains unchanged. Amongst the popular purchases include apparel & footwear; accessories & jewellery; electronics and sports equipment and respectively, their volumes recorded were RM25.3 million; 1.7 million; RM5.1 million and RM3.3 million.

Lim says, "It is indeed good to know that overall consumer confidence is not decreasing. Based on our findings, the spending appetite of the online shoppers remains positive and that issues like data security and fraud have become negligible."

BONUS PODCAST: ROCKINâ€™ RETAIL #1 - MALAYSIA IN THE SPOTLIGHT

The President of Malaysia Retail Chain Association (MRCA), Datoâ€™ Garry Chua and iPay88 founder, Chan Kok Long give us an overview of the Malaysian retail scene. The retail sector is rapidly moving into digital world with governmentâ€™s push for digital economy. Are Malaysian retailers ready for this? Will physical brick-n-mortar outlets survive? How will the Digital Free Trade Zone affect Malaysian retailers? Datoâ€™ Garry and Chan Kok Long will answer these burning questions.