Send WhatsApp messages in bulk
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Broadcast messages in bulk
Automate your WhatsApp marketing
Connect your chat apps in a shared inbox
Multiple chat apps on one website widget
Drive sales to your Shopify store
Drive sales to your EasyStore site
Content Writer
Reading time: 5 minutes
Choosing the best e-commerce platform in Malaysia to run your business is one of the most significant decisions that will ultimately determine the success of your business.
One wrong move can mean a substantial loss of your money, time, and resources. In fact, sources state that 90% of all e-commerce businesses fail within the first 120 days of launch. 😨
That’s why it’s crucial that you make a good decision and start on the right foot.
In this article, we’ll dive into the 5 best e-commerce platforms in Malaysia and discuss some of the factors that make them suitable for your business. So, let’s dive right in!
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Shopify is the best international e-commerce website builder, well known for its dropshipping features. Providing an easy-to-launch platform for sellers to create e-commerce sites within Malaysia and beyond, it has become the best and most famous platform worldwide.
Shopify’s pricing plans range from ~RM 37 to ~RM 1,250 per month, depending on your e-commerce needs. The Shopify Plus plan, a premium service, offers custom plans to high-volume brands with more specific business requirements.
A comprehensive collection of free and premium themes: Shopify has many elegant and stylish free themes to help you get started quickly and satisfy the needs of your online store much faster.
Extensive and multilingual help resources: Shopify is not just the most significant e-commerce player in the western and international market for nothing. With hundreds and thousands of guides and tutorials to help users kick-start their online ventures, Shopify is greatly advantaged, making it harder for others to compete with it.
There are tons of helpful apps on Shopify’s App Store: There are several Shopify apps, plugins, and add-ons to give your e-commerce store the added functionality. Adding these apps to your store is often easier and requires minimal or no technical skills to configure these apps.
EasyStore is an e-commerce platform that allows individuals and businesses to create their online stores and start selling easily. Sellers can sell their products using various channels such as:
The e-commerce platform focuses on helping merchants in Southeast Asian markets as the company was founded in Malaysia, and has more customers in Taiwan and Singapore.
Although EasyStore does not have a free version, it offers a free trial. There are four subscription plans to choose from in EasyStore. The plans are:
One-click installation: Gives the sellers the ability to view the theme demo to select their branding style and their desired theme.
Built-in theme editor: This feature makes it easy to create a favicon, logo, layout, slider, color, and website font without requiring any coding knowledge.
Bulk upload tool: For importing and exporting user products using CSV or Excel files, then editing the product information at once.
Product launch schedule: Gives the seller complete control over the launching date of their products.
Payment reminder: Enables the seller to remind customers to order payment using one click.
Search functionality: Enables customers to find their desired products easily.
Built-in blogging tool: For sellers to create and publish content that is easily accessible to search engines.
Real-time reporting: Maintains the optimization better to understand sales performance, traffic, and customer behavior.
Lazada is an online marketplace where merchants sell their products. Lazada was established by Rocket Internet in 2011 and operated as an intermediary between the seller and the buyer.
This e-commerce platform is popular in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand among others.
For every sale made by the seller, the company charges a commission and payment fee on the money earned. However, there are no listing fees or hidden costs for selling on Lazada.
Lazada calculates the costs as follows:
Note that the payment fees and the commission are subject to 6% SST.
Lazada doesn’t charge sellers any major upfront fees or deposits. All you have to do is register for an account, list your products, and get started.
Good logistics: The warehouses have more than 40 hubs, enabling Lazada to deliver products swiftly and faster, reducing costs by giving consumers competitive rates, hence giving customers the best shopping experience.
Shoppertainment: Shoppertainment helps to build the future of businesses.
The rate of innovation in Shoppertainment has been increasing in the past years. Live-streaming programs like ‘see now’ and ‘buy now’ have led to increased instant purchases and boosted transactions.
The LazCoin program also allows customers to redeem their points to receive vouchers and freebies. The customers can also earn discounts by playing games on apps.
The games keep the consumer entertained and promise the sellers a return business.
Support: Lazada has purposed to help its buyers and sellers with developed innovations since the tech tools used in their platforms are in-house. Hence, it gives them a strategic advantage because of being related to Alibaba.
Lazada also offers a virtual business adviser inform of the digital dashboard that helps the brands and sellers access updates and essential information required to customize their customers’ needs and meet their demands.
PrestoMall is a multiservice lifestyle app in Malaysia that provides users with various lifestyle features and hassle-free mobile payments. It was previously known as 11 Street Malaysia.
PrestoMall is an intermediary between buyers and different merchants. It is worth choosing Prestomall because it meets both the buyers’ and sellers’ product requirements, hence providing a trustworthy and secure marketplace for both.
To become a seller on PrestoMall, you need no registration fees. However, you will incur transaction costs and a Commission fee for every successful sale you make, at a rate that depends on the product category. The commission fee is usually between 1 to 10% for non-eVouchers and 4 to 20% for eVouchers.
The profit you will get as a seller on PrestoMall is calculated using the formula:
Profit = (Price of the product)- (Commission)- (Transaction fee)
Free product listing: PrestoMall has no listing fees.
Commission-based e-commerce: Charges a commission fee according to a product’s category. PrestoMall will charge the product category commission and a transaction fee for each sale you make.
Escrow system: This system ensures a safe and secure platform for buyers and sellers. You can choose to be a seller in Prestomall because it is safe and secure (ESCROW system).
Training: There are regular classes to guide you on optimizing your business.
Zalora is an online fashion, beauty, and lifestyle shopping platform that deals with expanding local and international brands for customers in Malaysia. Zalora has over 50,000 items covering all aspects of fashion, beauty, and lifestyle.
It is one of the best online marketplaces for sellers, especially in Southeast Asia. The Zalora shopping app has over 4 million downloads on the app store. In 2018, Zalora grabbed 38% of mobile buyers, and this was the highest number of mobile engagements in that year.4
As a user of Zalora, you start incurring costs after the registration and listing of your products. There are some extra fees that you will incur while uploading several images of a product. The charges also vary depending on the type of product you are selling, such as:
Integration with WooCommerce: To avoid the tussling process of uploading your products into Zalora one by one, Zalora has the product listing automating feature. The Zalora integration with WooCommerce allows the seller to upload all the WooCommerce products to the marketplace and then sync all your stores and manage them centrally.
Fashion-oriented e-commerce platform: Zalora gives you a perfect destination to showcase your fashion-related products as a seller.
Lelong is among the largest e-commerce web store builder in Malaysia. It is not only concerned with the C2C relationships, but it also focuses on improving B2C relationships.
Despite the highly competitive environment, Lelong is still among the most visited marketplaces in Malaysia, with more than 9 million visitors per month.
Lelong deals with a range of products like electronics, watches, cameras, books, and many more. It allows customers to order whatever products they need from online shopping stores and sellers in Malaysia by providing a convenient environment.
Cost is a primary concern when setting up an online shop. Lelong will cost you about RM 398 per year for a web store plan and RM 398 for a Web store Plus Plan. The difference between the two plans is the number of SKUs you can list.
It is easy to understand sponsored rankings: Unlike other marketplaces like Lazada, it is easy to understand how promotions on Lelong works. Lelong pushes the listings upwards for particular keywords. Therefore, it becomes easy to see where your money is going.
Though this marketplace seems a little outdated, you can still sign up with it because it still receives a significant amount of traffic each month.
Choosing the best e-commerce platform and website builders in Malaysia for your business will increase your chances of success. Therefore, as a serious business, you need to research thoroughly to find the best e-commerce platform.
When selecting the best e-commerce platforms, it is essential to compare the amount of commission it deducts and other costs like if the customer returns the product and listing costs.
Also, another important factor to consider would be who your target audience is. For example, Shopify would be ideal for you if you’re planning to expand your business internationally. On the other hand, EasyStore would be a great option if you’re focusing your efforts on local markets in Southeast Asia.
That said, take advantage of any free trials or plans offered by these e-commerce platforms to test them out and see which is the best for your business!
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