‘Digital economy to gain from Alibaba’s US$2b investment’

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s digital economy is set to benefit from Alibaba’s new US$2 billion (RM7.84 billion) commitment to e-commerce firm Lazada, according to product meta-search platform company iPrice Group.

This is evident as Alibaba has been working hand-inhand with the Malaysian government to set up the region’s first Digital Free Trade Zone and a strategic logistics hub in Sepang that serve both Lazada and small and medium enterprises.

It said e-commerce had continued to grow at a rapid rate in Southeast Asia as both governments and the private sector continued to invest heavily in the digital industry.

The latest figures by the Statistics Department indicate the digital economy had contributed 18.2 per cent, or RM290.9 billion, to the national gross domestic product in 2016.

iPrice said Malaysia’s top 50 e-commerce players experienced an overall 30 per cent increase in online traffic on yearend sales.

“In fact, all vital e-commerce sale periods took place in the last months of 2017. Among the most popular online sale periods were #MYCyberSale, 11.11 Sale, Black Friday and 12.12 Sale.

“The most popular sale period was 12.12 Sale, followed by Singles Day, where searches for promotions on Lazada, Shopee and Zalora were the highest last year,” it said in a statement.

iPrice said the top five e-commerce platforms in Malaysia were Lazada, 11street, Shopee, Lelong and Zalora, which created more than 1,000 jobs locally.

“The number could be even higher as not all employees have a LinkedIn account,” it said.