November 28, 2025 1:14AM

Consumer Behaviour Trends Shaping Malaysia’s Top Products in 2025

Essentials Divide: Personal Care Wins Online, Groceries Stay Offline, and 95% Are Ready to Try New Brands. 

• Groceries Remain Tied to Physical Stores: Despite high overall penetration, F&B shows the largest channel gap, confirming that essential grocery shopping still heavily relies on traditional, offline outlets. 
• Apparel and Wellness Achieve Substantial Online Sales: These key lifestyle categories command high online volume, with 52% of Clothing and 44% of Health & Wellness purchases being made through online channels. 
• Digital Discovery Fuels Trial: Social media drives market receptivity, with 7 out of 10 regular users of platforms like TikTok and Facebook being open to trying new products or brands. 
• Personal Care Seizes Online Crown: Personal Care products (57% online penetration) dramatically surpass Food & Beverages (47%) to become the single most-purchased category through digital channels. 

What are Malaysians buying most often, and how are their preferences shifting between physical and online stores? Vodus Research’s Consumer Sentiment Report 2025 provides a detailed and accurate assessment of purchasing patterns and product popularity across Malaysia. The research is based on a survey involving 10,673 respondents across Malaysia, offering an extensive view of the nation's shopping habits. 

This article highlights the most important findings from the study: the key purchasing trends, the most popular product categories, and early signs of changing consumer behavior. The insights presented here are based on real purchasing activity over the past six months, giving an accurate picture of the market today. 

What Malaysians Bought Most in the Past 6 Months 

The Vodus Consumer Sentiment Survey 2025 provides a clear snapshot of where Malaysians have been spending their ringgit over the past six months, highlighting the key product categories that form the core of consumer activity. 

The Everyday Priorities 

When looking at what Malaysians purchased most, two categories clearly define the foundation of consumer spending. A massive 84% of all respondents reported purchasing Food & Beverages, making it the most ubiquitous item in the shopping basket. Trailing very closely, Personal Care & Hygiene Products were bought by 81% of the population. This near-identical penetration confirms the essential, non-negotiable role both daily sustenance and personal maintenance play in routine spending. 

Consistent Purchasing in Lifestyle Categories 

Moving beyond the essentials, two major lifestyle areas demonstrated purchasing activity among more than two-thirds of the population over the past six months. Both Clothing (69%) and Health & Wellness (66%) show that spending on apparel and well-being products remains a high-frequency habit for a substantial majority of the market. Furthermore, consumers continue to show strong purchasing in the Beauty and Cosmetics market, with over half of all respondents making purchases in this category. 

Beyond Everyday Shopping 

The remaining categories reveal activity among specific consumer groups during the six-month period. For instance, Consumer Electronics were purchased by 44% of consumers, showing these items are nearly mainstream, while Home Improvement Products also registered a strong presence. The report also tracked purchasing activity in more focused categories, such as Pet Products, which were purchased by 27% of respondents. Other categories reviewed included Baby & Childcare and Office Supplies. The categories with the lowest penetration rates overall were Tobacco & Alternatives and Alcohol. 

DEMOGRAPHIC INSIGHT: The purchase of pet products is most common among individuals aged 35 and above, those in the Central region, and households in the upper M40 and T20 income segments. 

What Malaysians Prefer to Buy Online 

The way Malaysians shop is fundamentally split between essential purchases made everywhere and discretionary items purchased primarily online. The Vodus Research survey clearly shows that the order of popularity of most-purchased categories shiftssignificantly when analyzing purchases made through online channels. 

The Rise of Online Convenience 

In contrast to the overall market, where Food & Beverages leads, the online space is led by items that benefit most from home delivery and digital comparison. Personal Care & Hygiene Products takes the top spot for online purchasing, reported by 57% of respondents. 

Clothing (52%) is the second most popular category for online purchase activity, indicating that consumers are highly comfortable making apparel purchases digitally, driven by convenience and selection. 

DEMOGRAPHIC INSIGHT: For Clothing, the study reveals that online buyers are highly income earners (T20s), often female, and remain residing in the Central region. 

Even Food & Beverages, while purchased by 84% of consumers overall, sees significant online activity, with 47% of respondents reporting purchases through online channels. This demonstrates that even for high-frequency essentials, the move towards online purchasing is accelerating. 

Categories That Thrive Digitally 

The data reveals specific categories where online popularity is strong compared to their overall purchase rate. While most purchasing activities see a natural drop when moving from overall (online + offline) to purely online channels, some categories demonstratean ability to shift volume more successfully: 

• Beauty & Cosmetics and Consumer Electronics continue to show high online penetration, benefiting from the ease of price comparison, wide variety, and brand research available on e-commerce platforms. 
• Health & Wellness maintains its strong position, indicating that consumers are comfortable acquiring vitamins, supplements, and related items through trusted online sources. 

Online vs. Overall: The Key Differences 

The most revealing aspect of the data is the contrast between online and traditional purchasing habits. The survey highlights two critical trends: 

1. A Shift in Leading Categories: While Food & Beverages leads overall purchase penetration, Personal Care & Hygiene Products is the category bought by the largest number of consumers online. This shift indicates that consumers prioritize the convenience of non-perishable personal items over daily groceries when shopping digitally. 
2. Offline Resilience for Essentials: Despite strong online growth, the Food & Beverages category shows the largest gap between overall (84%) and online (47%) purchasing activity. This significant difference demonstrates that a substantial segment of essential purchases remains anchored firmly in traditional, offline channels. 

How Malaysians Experiment with New Products 

The survey moves beyond consumption habits to assess the general openness of the Malaysian shopper to change, revealing a consumer base that is highly willing to explore new brands and products. 

A High Willingness to Try 

The data shows a clear inclination toward trying new products and brands: 73% of consumers stated they are willing to try new products, with an additional 22% indicating they might consider it. Only a small fraction (5%) are unwilling. This combined 95% openness suggests the market is highly receptive to new product launches and emerging brands, especially those offering a compelling value proposition. 

DEMOGRAPHIC INSIGHT: This strong willingness to try stands out among those aged 25 to 34 and 45 to 54, Chinese consumers, upper M40 and T20 income groups, and six person households. 

This openness is further amplified by digital habits. The report found that 7 out of 10 people who regularly use social platforms (Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube) are open to trying new products or brands. This strong correlation highlights the critical role digital media plays in introducing and validating new items to a receptive audience. 

The Value Driven Explorer: Key Behavioral Drivers 

Consumers who are open to unestablished or new products or brands demonstrate key behaviors that confirm their decisions are heavily influenced by price and value. 

When shopping for a new product, consumers frequently engage in highly price-driven activities. An overwhelming 93% compare prices across various physical stores, and another 93% compare prices between physical stores and online. This intense search for the best value is a prerequisite for trying a new option. Furthermore, an overwhelming 83% of consumers are motivated to try new brands which offer free gifts or promotional incentives, indicating the barrier to trial can be overcome through immediate, tangible rewards.  

The focus on value extends to consumption models, with a significant 67% of consumers stating they are willing to purchase preloved/bundle/swap products. Despite this openness to new and alternative options, 63% of consumers stated they prefer international brands over local brands, suggesting that perceived quality or trust remains a strong factor even when seeking a deal. 

Overall, the data shows that the Malaysian consumer is highly engaged in cross channel, price driven behavior. They are willing to experiment with new products and consumption models (like preloved items) but only after rigorously confirming the value proposition, often favoring the perceived quality of international brands. 

Conclusion 

The Vodus Research Consumer Sentiment Report 2025 reveals a Malaysian consumer market defined by high frequency purchasing, rapid digital integration, and a sophisticated approach to value. The spending habits of over 10,000 respondents confirm that while essentials like Food & Beverages and Personal Care products anchor the market, the means of purchase are rapidly shifting. 

The core findings point to a consumer who is: 

• Digitalized for Convenience: Online purchasing is led by categories that offer maximum delivery convenience, such as Personal Care products and Clothing. The demographics of the online shopper are clear, often concentrated in the Central region, and among the Upper M40 and T20 income groups. 
• Highly Experimental: A significant majority of consumers are either willing or considering trying new products. This openness is heavily supported by digital usage, as roughly seven out of ten people who regularly use social platforms are open to trying new brands. 
• Motivated by Value: The willingness to try is intrinsically linked to price. Consumers overwhelmingly compare prices across both physical and online channels before making a final decision. The effectiveness of incentives is proven, with an overwhelming number of consumers motivated to try new brands that offer free gifts or promotions. Furthermore, the acceptance of alternative consumption is high, with more than two thirds willing to purchase preloved/bundle/swap products. 

The data highlights that the successful strategy in the Malaysian market is no longer simply about brand loyalty, but about providing transparent value, digital accessibility, and compelling incentives to the sophisticated, value seeking consumer. 

Research Methodology  

The findings in this report are based on data from the Vodus Consumer Sentiment Study 2025, conducted using an online quantitative methodology among 10,673 Malaysian adults. The sample was stratified to mirror the Malaysian population census, ensuring representation across key demographics and regions, including both Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak).  

Data collection was carried out through the Vodus Media Network, which includes major partner platforms such as Astro and Media Prima, providing extensive reach across diverse audience segments. The survey employed Vodus (OMTOS) survey method, a low disruption approach designed to capture authentic, unbiased responses from respondents within their natural online browsing environment.  

Fieldwork was conducted from 25 July to 15 August 2025. The target population comprised of Malaysians aged 18 years and above, and the demographics of the sample stratified to accurately reflect the general population.  

This robust methodology ensures that the results presented are representative of Malaysian consumer sentiment, offering valuable insight into national financial attitudes and priorities in 2025.