Seventy Percent of Malaysians Prefer to Visit Shops that Accept Digital Payments: Visa Study
09/19/2019
Digital payments are becoming the payment method of choice in Malaysia, with 70 percent of consumers preferring to visit merchants that accept digital payments compared to those that only accept cash, according to the Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study 20181. This is an increase of 21 percent compared to the previous year.2
Over half of the respondents expect their use of digital payments to increase over the next year. The merchant categories that consumers expect higher usage of digital payments include large shopping malls (65%), supermarkets (60%) and bill payments (57%).
Top benefits cited for paying with digital payments include convenience (70%), hassle-free (62%), and wide acceptance (56%). More than half of the respondents (60%) believe going cashless offers greater payment security, in addition to being able to track their spending better, even though cash remains the preferred payment method for small transaction amounts in the country.3
“We are encouraged to see a growing preference for digital payments among Malaysian consumers. We see a similar trend based on our VisaNet data, where the total value of consumer spending on Visa and number of transactions have increased double-digit percent year on year4. However, there are continued opportunities for growth because cash still accounts for more than 60 per cent of consumer spending in Malaysia,5” said Mr. Ng Kong Boon, Visa Country Manager for Malaysia.
“In the past few years, we have concentrated our efforts on expanding merchant contactless acceptance in the country. To date, we have enabled contactless payments acceptance in major merchant categories such as petrol stations, supermarkets, quick service restaurants and laundromats. As a result, Malaysia is now one of the fastest growing countries in Asia Pacific in terms of contactless payments usage.6 We are confident that our goal of becoming a cashless nation is moving a step closer because merchants and consumers appreciate the frictionless payments experience brought about by digital payments,” added Kong Boon.
1 The 2018 Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study was conducted by Intuit Research with 500 Malaysians. This is part of a regional research conducted in Southeast Asia on 4,000 consumers. The survey was conducted both online and face-to-face with respondents 18-60 years of age.
2 Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study 2018 – Malaysia report
3 Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study 2018 – Malaysia report
4 VisaNet data as of June 2019
5 Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study 2018 – Malaysia report
6 VisaNet data as of June 2019
About Visa
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of connected commerce on any device, and a driving force behind the dream of a cashless future for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information, visit www.visa.com.my and @VisaNews.