E-commerce Website Malaysia: Everything You Need To Know and How To Build One

Ecommerce Website Malaysia: Everything You Need To Know & How To Build One

We are living in the age of digitalization; a virtual medium to satisfy one’s needs and demands. The Internet has been our ultimate source of e-commerce satisfaction.

Ever since the pandemic Covid-19 has hit Malaysia a year ago, we are advised to avoid any physical interactions.

Think about it, how do you perceive pandemic Covid-19;  a new start or an ensconce obstacle?

Some of us are still doing the old job while others might have to overcome life challenges such as job losses, financial struggle, and many more.

Even the word “digitalization” reflects our world and society’s behavior nowadays. We become more expressive; jolly and competitive when it comes to the digital world. 

Let’s take a closer look at online shopping behavior in society.

Businesses; apparel, foods, and skincare products can be seen on online shopping platforms. Business owners take the alternative of producing an e-commerce website to promote their business.

Without further ado, let’s dive into the topic; general information about e-commerce and step-by-step details of creating one’s e-commerce website. 

What Is E-commerce Website?

e-commerce website

The bitter truth about e-commerce is it has been embedded in our routine for the past few years.

However, we did not oversee the importance of e-commerce during those days.

We enjoyed common routines such as buying stuff, having a real conversation, and doing activities physically in the older days.

But, the time has periodically changed now. Thanks to the advancement of technology and the Internet, we can do those activities virtually.

Hence, e-commerce is a virtual platform where people conduct business on the Internet and social media.

People nowadays are given options to make a payment through online banking, cash-on-delivery (COD), credit cards, e-wallet, and applications, for instance, Paypal.  

These transaction options are made to ease our purchase and minimize physical interaction as a part of Covid-19 precautions.

How Does An E-commerce Website Work? 

e-commerce website

It is not a surprise that the outbreak of the pandemic Covid-19 has led us to a new path. People are preserving their lives, thus the reason to minimize physical contact.

Food and beverage (F&B) and e-commerce are the main contributors to the economy in Malaysia. 

The two sectors mentioned above are essentials as they provide boons; food and drink supplies, self-satisfaction, and fulfilling one’s daily demands and needs. 

Compared to the e-commerce sector, food and beverage (F&B) have their platforms. 

For example, food and beverage (F&B) have their in-store and third-party applications. Grab Food and Foodpanda are examples of third-party applications for food delivery purposes.

But, what about e-commerce websites? 

Simply saying, e-commerce websites are virtual stores that provide more options for goods, services, promotions, and transactions. 

These options are made to satisfy existing and new customers. Therefore, an e-commerce website is more strategic than physical business.

One of the perks of an e-commerce website is scheduled promotions dates. 

It is primarily because promotions can be in the form of giveaways, flash sales, free samples, limited-offer coupons, and many more. 

Customers can browse the items in the online store and less worry about trivial routines like long queues and bumping in a crowd. 

What’s more, the customers can put the details of the product or the store’s name on search engines like Google or Mozilla Firefox. 

Search engines will find relevant results and connect them to the e-commerce website’s database. 

The result from the search engine encourages the customers to purchase the items with ease. Or at least, they can add the items in a virtual shopping cart. 

The customers have to complete the transaction process.

Usually, e-commerce websites will provide multifarious payment methods such as credit cards, online banking, e-wallet, or PayPal. 

After they have completed the transaction process, the order will be placed automatically on the admin website. 

Lastly, the e-commerce website store will notify the customers about the arrival date and unique tracking number for safety purposes. 

What Are The Types of Ecommerce Websites?

e-commerce website

If you are a business owner or interested in building an e-commerce website, it is best to know the four types of e-commerce website Malaysia. 

These are the four types of e-commerce website Malaysia that you need to know: 

Business-to-Business (B2B)

Business-to-business (B2B) refers to the exchange of goods, information or services between two companies. 

This type of e-commerce involves two-way communication, for instance, a manufacturer and wholesaler or a wholesaler and retailer. 

Business-to-business is a form of the supply chain, where one company will provide essential and raw supplies for the other. 

These supplies will be used for manufacturing purposes. 

Business-to-business usually takes place in industrial clean-up, software, and auto industry companies. 

Business-to-Consumer (B2C) 

Business-to-consumer is a form of e-commerce where the company supplies goods or services directly to their customers. 

Even though business-to-consumer (B2C) is the most popular e-commerce method, it has to serve the customers correctly. 

Any businesses that are running as B2C need to preserve their relationship with the customers all the time. 

The business owners have to provide excellent service and high-quality products to satisfy the customers’ demand. 

With this, the customers are more than happy to spend their time and money at the online store. 

Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)

You might think that e-commerce only involves companies and business owners. Unfortunately, you are wrong

As a consumer, you also can sell or trade goods with another consumer. This action is known as consumer-to-consumer (C2C)


Consumer-to-consumer happens typically on the Internet. It benefits from third-party platforms such as Lazada, Mudah.com, Taobao, Shopee, and many more.

Consumer-to-consumer has reached its popularity among the consumers to sell their products as an alternative to gain daily income. 

This popularity has created wild competition among the consumers to build C2C sites. 

This scenario is common and also a reminder to all consumers to be wary of scammers on the third-party application. 

Consumer-to-Business (C2B)

Consumer-to-business (C2B) is a form of e-commerce method that involves an individual offering a product or service to the companies. 

Consumer-to-consumer is a good opportunity for small businesses to generate new ideas in conducting business. 

Not only that, C2B provides a better engagement between the business owners and potential consumers.

It is to ensure that the potential customers are aware of their products and business. 

You can find consumer-to-business methods on any social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Youtube. 

Social media influencers; macro and micro-influencers produce a video of them promoting a product or service. 

The social media influencers also will give feedback regarding the product. With this, the potential customers feel engaged with the business and are attracted to buy the product.

Ecommerce Business Models 

We might not be aware of our actions; clicking buttons and purchasing items on third-party apps are contributing to e-commerce.

Therefore, here is a list of e-commerce business models that you should know: 

a) Wholesale

Have you encountered a virtual shop that sells an item in a large quantity? 

Or, you witnessed a customer who buys multiple flavors and brands of snacks? 

What you have encountered is known as wholesale. It happens when a store; physical or online, sells products in bulk. 

Both consumers and wholesalers can buy products in a large amount but at a cheaper price.

b) Services

E-commerce does not necessarily manifest the idea of selling products physically and virtually. 

Offering services can be a form of e-commerce, too. 

For example, Grab offers many services such as food delivery, a car ride, and running errands at supermarkets.

These examples are the act of service where one party serves the customers following their request. 

The customers have to pay the working party for the service offered. 

c) Subscription

E-commerce website Malaysia stores consist of call-to-action (CTA) that requires the customers to fill in personal details. The personal details can be an email or contact number. 

The call-to-action can be in the forms of subscription, becoming a member, or purchasing products or services from the store.

CTA is an alternative to maintaining engagement between a company and its customers. 

The customers will receive a newsletter about the company or notifications about new products and promotions.

Why Should I Have an E-commerce Website?

As a business owner, producing a website is a must and more efficient in conducting e-commerce strategies.

Here are the advantages of having an e-commerce website Malaysia:

a) Widen customer base 

You should have no excuses for being unsure about the efficiency of an e-commerce website. 

We agree that the Internet is a powerful source. It does not only connect us to people we are familiar with, it also brings happiness and recent information to us. 

People nowadays keep searching for new products on the Internet. They always crave for products that are distinguished from the common ones. 

Therefore, creating an e-commerce website for your business is a good idea.

People can search your business on the Internet with ease. They can visit your website and browse the products for information gathering purposes. 

Remember that your customers are not only the local people, there could be people from other countries who are interested in your business, products, and services. 

b) Precise data-keeping

Making an e-commerce website is really helpful. Business owners can set dates to track selling data precisely. 

This action is vital to be conducted because it encourages the business owners to plan marketing strategies. Business owners can analyze the store’s performance. 

They also can make improvements from the older marketing strategy. 

Some ideas on improving marketing strategy are pricing, advertisement, customer engagement, promotion, and upgrading the store’s service.

c) Establish your brand

As a business owner, you have to pour your creativity and enthusiasm in business by making an e-commerce website. 

This is because e-commerce websites allow you to create your own playground. 

You can personalize the website; add widgets, products’ photos and details, customer feedback, and interesting blogs. 

However, your e-commerce website has to be simple but eye-catching. 

Customers are more likely to stay engaged with e-commerce websites that serve appealing products’ photos and less wordy taglines. 

Also, you are not required to have a large number of customers. In business, the most important value is having loyal customers. 

They will be your supporter and help to improve your services along the way through their feedback and responses.

How Do I Create an E-commerce Website?

e-commerce website

Here are the step-by-step and brief explanations on ways to create an e-commerce website: 

a) Choose a domain name for your e-commerce website

website domain

Choosing a domain name is the foremost step in creating an e-commerce website. Domain name refers to the web address for a website. 

Note that you can create a domain name that reflects your niche.

Also, it has to be short and memorable so that the audiences can find your website easily on the Internet.

As for the extension, you might get confused to choose between .com, .my, or .org. Regarding this, you need to have a well-planned marketing strategy. 

These questions would be super helpful to refresh you about creating an e-commerce website:

  1. Who is your target audience? 
  2. Do we want to focus business primarily on Malaysians only? 
  3. Is this product likable to my customers? 

If you wish to conduct your business mainly in Malaysia, then .com.my or .my would be the best choice among the others. 

These two extensions suggest that your business will be focusing on Malaysia’s demography. 

To create a domain name, you can check these sites; Namecheap, GoDaddy, or Bluehost. 

b) Choose A Web Hosting Planning

After you have done choosing a domain name, you will be directed to their signup page. For this step, you will be offered various choices of web hosting plans. 

You can choose one of the web hosting plans that offer a reasonable price, best plan, and protection from malware and cyber threats.

Then, you are required to enter your domain name for registration purposes.

Lastly, you have to complete the payment process and you are ready for the next step!

c) Installing WordPress

wordpress

Most web hosting offers one-click installation for WordPress. WordPress, however, highly recommends its users to sign up with Bluehost. 

Below are the steps for WordPress installation: 

Step 1: Log in to your web hosting service 

Step 2: Go to the panel control 

Step 3: Click the WordPress icon 

Step 4: Choice a domain that you want to install WordPress

Step 5: Enter the site name, username, and password. 

Step 6: Click on “Install now”

d) Install WooCommerce Plugin

woocommerce

WooCommerce is an e-commerce plugin for WordPress. Business owners; small or large-sized online businesses can use this plugin. 

Step 1: Click on your WordPress dashboard

Step 2: Click on “Add Plugin” 

Step 3: Type “WooCommerce” in the search bar 

Step 4: Click on “Install Now” 

Step 5: Activate WooCommerce plugin

After you have installed the WooCommerce plugin, you will be needed to set it up for your business information. 

e) Installing And Activating A Theme

WordPress offers a great number of free themes to its users. You can choose a relevant theme that is suitable for your business. 

Step 1: Go to WordPress repository 

Step 2: Download the recent Responsive theme

Step 3: Log in to your WordPress dashboard

Step 4: Click on “Appearance” and theme select “theme”

Step 5: Click “Add New” at the top 

Step 6: Upload the downloaded theme zip file 

Step 7: Install the Responsive theme and activate it

f) Install & Activate Responsive Ready Site Importer Plugin

plugin website

Responsive Ready Site Importer Plugin is a plugin that allows you to use a ready-to-use WordPress template. 

The fun part of this plugin is you can customize the template using the Elementor page builder. 

Step 1: Download the free Responsive Ready Site Importer 

Step 2: Log in to your WordPress dashboard

Step 3: Click on “Plugin” and select “Add New”

Step 4: Upload the downloaded plugin file zip 

Step 5: Install Responsive Ready Site Importer 

Step 6: Activate the plugin

How Do I Customize My E-commerce Website Store Page?

e-commerce website malaysia

Before you customize an e-commerce website, you can generate designing ideas from other websites. 

It is an important step so that you can brainstorm on details to put in your e-commerce website. 

On top of that, you need to know the basic layout components for your e-commerce website. 

Follow these steps to customize your e-commerce website: 

Step 1: Click on WordPress dashboard

Step 2: Select “Appearance” and “Customize”

On this page, there are a lot of options to customize your layout. 

Thus, these are the basic information you need to know before exploring WordPress in-depth. 

  1. Sidebar position: You can adjust the sidebar position. You can place it at the Right Side, Left Side or No sidebar. 
  1. Gallery layout: You can change the gallery layout either horizontal or vertical. 
  1. Main content width: You can set or adjust the width of the main content.

Conclusion

E-commerce websites are a big helper in establishing one’s business in the digital world. 

Building an e-commerce website grabs the customers’ attention to your business.

Products’ photos and details are equally vital to maintain the engagement between customers.

Talk to us and give us a visit to Bomstart Media’s official website. We offer e-commerce website service to improvise your marketing strategies and business revenue. 

You also can refer to one of the Bomstart articles to gain more insight regarding e-commerce websites, social media platforms and marketing tools to boost your business. 

You can click here for the article