KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 — Retailers and wholesalers have shown a promising trend of incorporating the usage of digital and e-commerce into their business plans over the past year, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said this encouraging trend was reflected in the annual online retail index, which had risen to a year-on-year sales growth rate of 23.8 per cent in the first quarter of this year from 10.5 per cent in the same quarter last year.
“Our economy has moved rapidly whereby the contribution of the wholesale and retail trade has shown an encouraging growth,” he said during an online media conference today.
The wholesale and retail trade sector boosted its revenue from RM62.4 billion in 2015 to RM92.0 billion in 2018.
Meanwhile, online retail sales increased at a stronger annual pace from RM0.3 billion in 2013 to RM1.2 billion in 2018.
Mohd Uzir said the sector’s rapid growth was a testament to Malaysians’ rising disposable income year after year.
“The retail sector is a catalyst for the nation’s economic growth; and based on research that was conducted, we are on the right track,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mohd Uzir said several sectors such as wood products, writing products, books and newspapers as well as iron ore and unprocessed metal were among the sunset industries identified.
Textile retailing, food, newspaper agent and food retailing are categorised as “industry for survival”.
“Due to their shrinking revenue, these sectors require assistance, especially in terms of rental payment for their premises which represents a big portion of their operational costs,” he said.
Meanwhile, in the final statistics on the wholesale and retail trade sector which were compiled from the wholesale and retail trade census 2019 for the reference year 2018, the country recorded a sales volume of RM1.27 trillion for 2018.
In a statement today, DOSM said that in 2018, the number of establishments operated in the wholesale and retail trade sector numbered 469,024 with an annual growth rate of 4.8 per cent.
Selangor had the highest number of establishments with 94,857, followed by Kuala Lumpur (71,433).
“The wholesale trade sub-sector was the largest contributor for the total sales value of goods and services with RM663.7 billion (52.2 per cent), followed by retail trade (RM459.9 billion; 36.2 per cent) and motor vehicles (RM147.2 billion; 11.6 per cent),” it said.
Meanwhile, computer usage in business rose to 89.6 per cent in 2018 from 85.5 per cent in 2013.
— Bernama
