Online exports to boost SMEs e-commerce

PayPal’s country manager for Malaysia and the Philippines, Audrey Ottevanger, cited by online media outlet The Sun Daily, has declared that there is a lot of potential for SMEs, which account for 97 percent of all businesses in Malaysia, to venture overseas and to look at cross-border trading. She has also mentioned that exports via e-commerce have registered high growth rates in Malaysia, underscoring the potential for SMEs to explore new revenue streams in a wide range of online export categories.

Cross-border trade has accounted for 25 percent of PayPals total payment volume. The acceleration of cross border import and export trade is attributed to the competitive prices offered globally and Malaysian businesses creating products and services which are in high demand from an international audience.

With Malaysian PayPal merchants experiencing double-digit export growth online to key markets, Malaysian business can explore cross border trade through e-commerce to find new sources of business growth.

PayPals fastest-growing online exports markets in Malaysia are Japan, China, Singapore, US and Australia while the fastest-growing online import markets are Japan, China, Australia, the UK and the US.

The top online export categories from Malaysia are computers and accessories, books and magazines, electronics, fashion as well as beauty and fragrances. The top online import categories from Malaysia are fashion, website services, gaming, toys and sports equipment.

PayPal has over 128 million active accounts in 193 markets, supporting payments in 25 currencies around the world. In Q1 2013, over 5 million active accounts were added. In Southeast Asia, there are over 1.5 million active PayPal accounts today.

Globally, PayPal has processed USD 145 billion in total payment volume in 2012, a growth of 22 percent year-on-year. About 10 percent or USD 14 billion of the total payment volumes are mobile payments and PayPal is expecting to process USD 20 billion in mobile payment volume in 2013. In Q1 2013, PayPal has registered USD 1.5 billion in revenue. Its net total payment value, the total value of transactions was USD 41 billion.