E-shopping: Current Practices and Future Opportunities Towards Malaysian Customer Perspective

The rapid diffusion on the internet widely documented high growth potential of Internet shopping in Malaysia, apparently there is still lack of understanding concerning the characteristics of Internet shopping in Malaysia and its potential impact on consumer marketing. Therefore, this study aims to establish a preliminary assessment, evaluation and understanding of the characteristics of Internet shopping in Malaysia. The results of this study indicated significantly mean difference between users and non-users of Internet shopping using retailers' websites to gather product informations and compare price of goods and services before taking purchasing decision. In addition, results of the study also indicated that this group of non-users of Internet shopping constitutes more than 60% of the total number online consumers in Malaysia. This implies that this group of online consumers represents large potential users of Internet shopping that can be exploited by online retailers. Therefore, it's essential those necessary efforts are taken to convince them into becoming users of Internet shopping in the near future. In conclusion, online consumers in Malaysia still lack of confidence and trust in using the Internet as a shopping channel. They are mainly concerned on issues related to privacy and lack of credibility when dealing with online retailers. These issues, if left unchecked, will have a detrimental effect on the future growth of Internet shopping in Malaysia.