Previous Update: March Update
It’s almost the end of May and here I am talking about last month. Better late than never I guess.
Most of us spent the whole month of April at home due to MCO and I believe many see a significant reduction in their daily expenses. Unless… online shopping. That sucker.
Thankfully, even to my surprise, I didn’t cave in. The urge was there but self-control is a powerful, powerful thing. Not easy because sometimes I found myself scrolling through online shops for random things and added them to my cart and then as expected, that holy almost annoying voice came to my ear, “You sure you need ’em?“. That sucker.
Fortunately, the latter sucker won over the former. Yey! And that’s my update of the month. Anticlimactic I know.
For fun’s sake, I googled to see what happened to my ex-lover, e-commerce to see how it’s doing without me. To my slight disappointment (because I feel left out), e-commerce is thriving in these challenging times. There’s a surge of 149% of the total value of merchandise sold online. And what are Malaysians buying online?
We can safely assume that these purchases reflect our activities at home. Many are cleaning and decorating their homes, baking and cooking, exercising and working out, and the lucky ones are having… fun. If you’re an entrepreneur, that’s a business idea right there – hint: babies are coming.
Anyway despite those big percentage figures, we, Malaysians have actually been spending less but with a heavier reliance on online shopping. Gloomingly attributed to our current environment which is full of uncertainty around job security and incomes, the average monthly household expenditure has fallen 55% from MYR6,317 to MYR2,813. And actually, the majority of us are buying only essential products.
Interesting data! So it is clear that online shopping is the new norm and the way to go. It does make life easier, with few clicks, you can get everything sent at your doorstep. I personally have another different outlook at this though – my no-buy year would get much more challenging.
So how are you doing in this new norm?
Next Update: May Update
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