KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 — Malaysia ranked third in mobile shopping growth in Asia Pacific, just behind Taiwan and India, according to MasterCard’s Mobile Shopping Survey.

The country recorded over 20 per cent growth, from 25.4 per cent in 2012 to 45.6 per cent in 2014, the technology company in global payments industry said in a statement today.

MasterCard said one of the key factors fuelling the growth was the number of Malaysians accessing the Internet through their mobile phones, which had risen steadily from 81.2 per cent in 2012 to 94.6 per cent in 2014.

“Malaysians are shopping on their mobile phones due to the increasing availability of apps that make shopping easy (46.2 per cent), the ability to shop on the go (44.8 per cent) and the convenience of using a mobile phone (42.4 per cent),” it said.

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On the other hand, it said Malaysians who have not used mobile phones for online shopping cited preference for shopping via personal computer/laptop (77.7 per cent), at an actual store (61.4 per cent), and via their tablet (48.3 per cent).

MasterCard group country manager for Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, Safdar Khan said the vast growth of mobile commerce would likely be on an upward trend as Malaysians embrace new technology in their daily lives.

“Security and innovation are the cornerstone of our payment offerings and ensuring that Malaysians are able to shop with peace of mind is our priority,” he said.

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The results of the survey were based on interviews that took place between October and December 2014, with a minimum of 500 people aged 18-64, in each of the 14 markets surveyed. — Bernama