E-Commerce Stimuli and Practices In Malaysia

E-Commerce changes the way organizations do business. Recognizing the significance of ECommerce contributions to the nation’s economic growth, the Malaysian government introduced several stimuli to increase the practice of E-Commerce, particularly among SME, as they constituents about 84 percent of the Malaysian business enterprises. This paper looks at several stimulus provided by the Malaysian government in its effort to encourage SME to adopt E-Commerce as a tool to be more competitive in global markets. In addition, the study also describes E-Commerce practices among 266 SME retailers in four major cities in Malaysia. Personal interviews (using a structured questionnaire) were carried out to obtain responses from the retailers. The findings indicate E-Commerce practices among the Malaysian SME are still very low and are mainly for communication and marketing purposes. Lack of awareness and knowledge as well as skills were among the factors stated to be impeding the increase of E-Commerce usage among them. Therefore, relevant authorities must take note and concentrated efforts must be taken to overcome these impediments if Malaysia wants to be a major E-Commerce player in the region.