Dept survey shows income from eCommerce on the rise

PETALING JAYA: Income for businesses from eCommerce transactions has been steadily growing at a rate of about 6% per year, says the Statistics Department.

It, however, said that while companies were raking in more income, their spending has also increased by about 8.3% annually.

In 2017, income from eCommerce transactions were recorded at RM447.8bil, compared to RM398.2bil in 2015.

The main contributor was the manufacturing sector with 64.2% (RM287.5bil), followed by services (RM152.6bil) and mining and quarrying (RM7bil).

It also found that Malaysian businesses generated eCommerce income mostly from domestic buyers, with a share of 89.3% (RM399.8bil).

The international market only contributed 10.7%.

Most income from eCommerce transactions were from business-to-business transactions, with companies earning RM352.2bil.

Business-to-consumer transactions only contributed RM82.5bil to the total income earnings but it was growing at a rate of about 9.5% annually.

In 2017, business-to-government transactions stood at RM13.1bil, growing at a rate of about 19.1% annually.

Companies appear to be leveraging on the potential of eCommerce as they spent about RM228.8bil in 2017, compared to RM195.1bil in 2015.

Although not all Malaysian companies are engaged in eCommerce, the survey also found that the number of companies with a web presence expanded from 28.4% in 2015 to 37.8% in 2017.

The findings were compiled based on the department’s survey on usage of ICT and eCommerce by establishment and annual economic survey.