Malaysian E-wallet Market Survey (Q3 - 2019)

The e-wallet space is getting more crowded with over 40 e-wallet licenses issued by Bank Negara so far.

Malaysia has an internet penetration rate of 86% and mobile phone penetration rate at 64%. Coupled with a large young population of 59% aged below 35 years old, Malaysia’s e-wallet industry is prime for growth.

A peek into the awareness level of e-wallet among Malaysian

We have surveyed 8K adults across Malaysia to study the awareness and consumer usage & attitude towards e-wallet. Despite the growing trends of e-wallet providers in Malaysia, the awareness has yet to catch up among the Malaysians. When it comes to public e-wallet awareness, traditional financial institutes have the competitive advantage over the non-traditional finance companies.

The difference in the e-wallet awareness among different demographics is clear. Younger adults are generally more likely to be aware of e-wallets.

E-wallets such as Boost has a higher awareness among the younger adults whereas Razer Pay has the largest awareness gap between the younger and older Malaysians.

Does having high public awareness translates to high usage frequency?

Now to think that Malaysians generally have a good level of public awareness towards e-wallets, does high awareness translates to high usage frequencies or does it have a different story?

Only 11% of adults are regular e-wallet users (those who pay with e-wallet most of the time or whenever they can), whereas 13% of adults use e-wallet on a semi-regular basis (those who pays with e-wallet roughly half the time).

The factor of inconvenience: A deterrent?

The majority of regular & semi-regular e-wallet users cite E-wallet as the most convenient payment method. There are more regular & semi-regular e-wallet users who find it easier to find physical stores that accept e-wallet payments than online stores.