KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 — Nearly nine out of 10 Malaysians are researching cars on the internet for information rather than visiting dealerships these days, a recent Google study found.

The Google-TNS purchase study found that 86 per cent of local car buyers check on cars online before making their way to the dealership for the big purchase.

"Eighty-six per cent of car buyers research online before making a purchase; 74 per cent are influenced by the advertisements they see,” Google Automotive Partnership Lead Teh Yen Ping told a news conference to announce its findings here.

The online study was conducted by the tech giant from June to September last year on vehicle purchase trends. Similar questions were also posed to a survey panel during the same period.

Google released the data as part of its Malaysia Auto Day to help local car manufacturers and dealers to help position themselves better to deal with the online consumer.

The study also found that over 75 per cent of Malaysians (25 million from 38 million people) are online; with each person owning an average of 3.1 tech gadgets.

Based on the availability of information online, the study found that the number of car dealerships that Malaysians visit before purchasing a car has also dropped rapidly over the past few years.

When searching online, three in five Malaysian car shoppers already have a brand in mind, the survey also found.

Google also found that people tend to visit car dealerships near to where they currently were, based on their mobile phones searches, which has tripled from 2015 to 2016.

Google’s survey reinforces recent findings of a changing trend in Malaysian purchase habits.

Online payment service provider iPay88 found that most Malaysians have gravitated towards online shopping with its transactions from 2015 to last year showing a 161 per cent increase.

iPay88’s data coincided with a recent study announced by global payment provider Visa, which found that three in four Malaysians now preferred electronic payments to cash.

Visa also cited the growing adoption of mobile technology as among the contributors to this shift.