MALAYSIA is poised to maintain its position as one of the top e-commerce markets in ASEAN with expected gross merchandise value (GMV) of US$11.4 bil in 2020, a 6% year-on-year (yoy) increase.
This is expected to rise to US$30 bil in value by 2025, according to the e-Conomy SEA 2020 Report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company.
To further boost the growth of the country’s e-commerce market in ASEAN, the National Council of Digital Economy and 4IR (MED4IR) chaired by the Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin recently endorsed the National e-commerce Strategic Roadmap (NESR) 2.0 following the achievements of NESR 1.0.
MDEC is entrusted to lead the project management office of the NESR 2.0 Taskforce with the mandate to oversee the successful implementation of NESR 2.0.
“The success of NESR 1.0 highlighted the potential for e-commerce in Malaysia is enormous and we are motivated further to fuel our efforts to boost the local e-commerce market in line with positioning Malaysia as the heart of digital ASEAN,” said Surina Shukri, CEO of MDEC.
The Government has strongly encouraged local micro, small & medium enterprises (MSMEs) to get on the e-commerce market to leverage the massive opportunities globally.
The NESR 2.0 prioritises participation of local businesses and MSMEs, targeting 875,000 MSMEs to adopt e-commerce by 2025 in line with the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDIGITAL).
NESR 2.0 was led by MDEC in close consultation with the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (KKMM) and Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) to address the feedback and challenges faced by local industries and players.
Targets under NESR 2.0 will be driven by 11 ministries and agencies, namely MITI, KKMM, Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (MEDAC), Ministry of Transport (MOT), Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP), Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and MDEC in close partnership with industry players, especially from the local front.
As of end-2020, more than 489,000 MSMEs adopted e-commerce while 378,000 SME were trained in e-commerce. SMEs exporting grew exponentially from 1,800 to 27,000. The sector also attracted investment worth RM1.5 bil for the establishment of regional e-fullfilment hubs.
To accelerate these efforts, NESR 2.0 will be operationalized from 2021 to 2025, aiming to onboard 875,000 MSMEs, boost 84,000 e-commerce export adoption and increase the average revenue per user (ARPU) to RM9,500. – April 27, 2021