KUALA LUMPUR, Sep 11 — The movement control order (MCO) first instituted in March has proven to be an unexpected blessing for online retail, as more customers are going online to make purchases instead of visiting brick-and-mortar stores.

A recent survey by cashback company ShopBack on double digit sales days, such as on July 7 and August 8, for performance recovery has revealed that online retailers in Malaysia are confident in a boost to their shopping traffic and sales performance, when compared to the period before the MCO.

ShopBack Malaysia country general manager Eddy Han said based on the full-day data for Wednesday (September 9) alone, retailers saw a 5.5-time increase in traffic in which users spent a lot more than usual.

“We reckon the implementation of the MCO has not only widened the online shopper population, but also cultivated more deal hunters who typically hunt for promotional items to save more and tend to make more purchases during sales day,” he said in a statement.

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Han added that ShopBack also discovered that mobile users unsurprisingly contributed to at least 95 per cent of the shopping traffic.

“The top five leading online merchants in Malaysia are Shopee, followed by Taobao, ZALORA, Watsons, and Booking.com. The top three most-purchased categories include home and living, health and beauty, and electronics.

“For ShopBack Malaysia users, over RM200,000 worth of cashback will be given out for their 9.9 purchases. This encouraging result sets the tone for this year’s ShopFest and strengthens ShopBack’s position as the first point of online shopping — the smarter way to get more savings and best deals online,” he said.

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Currently over 500 e-merchants are partnering with ShopBack in Malaysia to reward users with up to 30 per cent cashback when they go through ShopBack to make purchases.

Over three million shoppers enter ShopBack Malaysia to earn cashback and grab exclusive promo codes before they start their shopping journey. The cashback earned by online shoppers can be withdrawn to their bank accounts where ShopBack Malaysia has given out over RM60 million worth of cashback to local users prior to September 9.