How the new generation of Malaysian consumers shop online

Shoppers look for pre-loved, warehouse clearance, and demo unit items.

Online consumers in Malaysia are three times more likely to purchase products promoting smarter consumption in 2023 compared to 2022 as they see value in demo units or pre-loved items over new ones.

In a statement, Shopee said its marketplace saw 1.4 million items sold that were demo units, warehouse clearance items with minor defects, bundled goods, and pre-owned. Around half of these were the fast-moving consumer goods category, baby and toys, groceries and pets, health and beauty.

Around 27% are pre-owned fashion items, 17% were lifestyle products and the rest were under the electronics category.

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 "Value-based shopping is clearly the future. Generation Z shoppers on our marketplace are telling us with their keyword searches that for every 6 times they look for something new, 4 other times, they are looking for something pre-loved, recycled, reused or display units,” said Shopee Malaysia Head of Marketing Kenneth Soh.

“They are exercising their purchasing power in a very deliberate way, and it's humbling to be able to meet the needs of this group of consumers by connecting them to sellers who are aligned with their values," he added.

Soh also said that in February 2023, there was a 15% year-on-year increase in pre-loved stock-keeping unit listings.

Amongst live stream sellers, they saw four times more pre-lover orders sold and live-streaming content for pre-owned products was twice as much than new products.