MALAYSIANS love shopping. A visit to some of the popular shopping malls, even on a weekday, will confirm that shopping is a popular leisure activity. But its very popularity means that these malls are packed with people and finding a parking space will be a logistical nightmare.
The good news for those who don’t want to deal with the hassle of driving to a mall and spending a lot of time looking for an empty space to park is the emergence of local online shopping malls.
When e-commerce was still at a nascent stage, many Malaysians experienced buying online through blogshops, which are essentially blogs with postings of things for sale.
Purchase was done through depositing money into bank accounts rather than paying through online shopping carts, etc. It was all very primitive but it served its purpose.
Later on, individual online shops emerged but for a long time we didn’t have a Malaysian answer to Amazon.com — that is, an online shopping mall which sold all kinds of products.
Of course it’s possible for Malaysians to order some things through Amazon.com but the range of products that could be shipped to Malaysia was limited. The shipping options were also very expensive.
Today, the online scene is very different. There are now many virtual shopping malls.
In some ways, these online malls are more comprehensive than their physical counterparts because they carry a much wider range of items.
Other than not having to search for parking, the other advantage is the potential cost savings. Online prices are almost always cheaper. The return policies are also typically much more generous than those of real life stores (which often have a no-return policy).
I’m going to highlight a few notable home-grown online shopping malls. Because they’re local, the shipping costs will be affordable or sometimes even free. Delivery time is also much shorter than if you were to order from overseas online stores or malls.
Lazada
This is the granddaddy of online shopping malls in Malaysia. It’s the most well-known e-commerce site for a reason. Like Amazon, it sells seemingly everything under the sun. There are electronics, home appliances, travel products, clothing, beauty products — you name it, it has it.
Its strongest categories are in consumer electronics and electrical goods. You can practically get any gadget you want there. All the brands, big and small, are represented. If you have read about a device online and can’t find it in any physical store, try Lazada. It’s probably there.
Its strength in consumer electronics have some people referring to it as an online “digital mall”, but that doesn’t do the site justice.
Its other departments are by no means weak. There’s really a lot of stuff you can find on Lazada in almost any category.
Like Amazon, almost everything on sale in Lazada is priced at a discount to the suggested retail price. Sometimes, they even offer special discounts for customers with specific brands of credit card.
One feature that I really like is its delivery time estimator which tells you how long each product will take to arrive.
Sometimes, certain products are sourced from overseas so they would take a longer time to arrive. I have found this to be useful for times when I wanted to order something as a gift for someone’s birthday. This allows me to know whether I can get it on time.
A site that’s as comprehensive as Lazada is best viewed on a computer laptop. But if you prefer to do your online shopping through a mobile phone, Lazada does have an app version for both Android and iOS. Download those for a better experience when viewing the site on a mobile device.
11street
11street is an online shopping mall operated by Celcom and is a collaboration with SK Planet, a well-known South Korean e-commerce site.
Like the other online malls, it has a wide range of product categories. One differentiating factor is its Korean Street, which it is eminently qualified to offer since its collaborator is Korean. The stuff that can be found there are obviously all from Korea so that should be interesting to fans of K-pop and Korean dramas.
It’s also interesting to note that 11street has a groceries department which is not a common offering among online malls.
There are many specialist grocery sites in Malaysia but grocery items are seldom sold via online malls. Alas, 11street’s grocery section comprises just dry goods. You won’t be able to find any fresh produce or meat there, so it’s not really what you’d expect when you click on the “Groceries” button.
If you want fresh groceries, go to Tesco online or some of the other specialist grocery sites.
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Superbuy.my
Like Lazada, Superbuy.my aims to offer a wide range of products but seems to be strongest in the area of consumer electronics and electricals. Visit the main page and you’ll see lot of gadgets and devices.
The site fosters a culture of reviews and there are many reviews available on a whole slew of products. In fact, it has a button called “Review” that lists every product that has a review or reviews attached to it.
It can actually make for interesting reading and fittingly, the reviews are presented blog-style with the latest review appearing at the top.The reviews are up-to-date which tells you the site has a legion of fans.
Superbuy offers corporate purchase services such as bulk orders, corporate gifts and employee incentives programmes for corporate clients (who are encouraged to write in and inquire about corporate discounts).
Nile.com.my
This Egyptian river-inspired store name is obviously a play on Amazon, which was named after the mighty Brazilian river.
The site offers many of the categories similar to its rivals Lazada, 11street and Superbuy. The range of products however doesn’t seem to be as wide as some of its competitors.
What differentiates it from the other online shopping malls is its lowest price guarantee which means if an item bought on Nile can be found elsewhere at a lower price, the company will either match that price or beat it — and it will refund the price difference. Now, that’s a pretty good deal!
The site says it is able to offer the lowest price possible because its purchasing team buys or imports items directly from manufacturers and passes on the savings to customers.
This is a strong selling point for Malaysian shoppers. We Malaysians love to bargain but if haggling is not possible, a lowest price guarantee is just as good.
Give online shopping a try
If you have not yet tried online shopping, now is a really good time to try it. The e-commerce eco system in Malaysia is now sufficiently mature that credit card payments are secure and delivery options are both affordable and fast. So, give yourself more choices and save some time and money while you are at it by shopping online.
**Future Proof
Oon Yeoh is a consultant with experiences in print, online and mobile media. reach him at oonyeoh@gmail.com