According to official data released by Malaysia recently, e-commerce revenue from Malaysian enterprises grew by 10.4% year-on-year in Q1 2023, reaching 291.7 billion Malaysian Ringgit (about 62.6 billion USD). In comparison, the figure for Q1 last year was 264.3 billion Ringgit.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) stated in a statement that this growth was mainly driven by its manufacturing and services sectors. Additionally, DOSM emphasized that in 2022, thanks to the local government’s series of initiatives to promote the e-commerce industry, Malaysia’s e-commerce revenue also showed steady growth.

  • Notably, compared to 2019, Malaysia’s e-commerce revenue surged by 23.9% in 2021, reaching 1.04 trillion Ringgit (about 220 billion USD) — of which the local market grew by 25.5% (932.7 billion Ringgit), and international market revenue increased by 11.9% (104.5 billion Ringgit).
  • On the other hand, in terms of customer type, in 2021, B2C transactions in Malaysia grew by 26.2% to 308.9 billion Ringgit. B2B and B2G (business-to-government) transactions grew by 25.9% (713.1 billion Ringgit) and -31% (15.2 billion Ringgit) respectively.

Finally, DOSM also pointed out that although the pandemic had a negative impact on the market economy, it also had a positive effect on promoting Malaysia’s e-commerce development. “Overall, the pandemic has acted as a catalyst for Malaysia’s e-commerce growth.”