Malaysian Small Businesses Ahead In Embracing E-Commerce In Asia-Pacific

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27 (Bernama) -- Embracing e-commerce has put Malaysian small businesses ahead of others in the Asia-Pacific, according to a survey released Monday by global accounting body, Certified Practising Accountants (CPA) Australia. In a statement, CPA said, 76 per cent of the respondents earned revenue from online sales and 85 per cent of the respondents used social media for business purposes. "The survey also showed that 69 per cent of small businesses reported growing in the last 12 months and 72 per cent expected to grow in the next 12 months," it said. The CPA said the level of confidence was also reflected in the employment numbers with a third of small businesses reported they had increased their staff numbers last year and 40 per cent was expected to raise employee numbers over the next 12 months. Its Chief Executive, Alex Malley, said the growth data were a reflection of the resilience and innovative capacity of small business in Malaysia. "These suggest that the small business sector continues to develop and will be a significant contributor to Malaysia’s goal of achieving developed economy status by 2020. "The government's decision to invest in SME Corporation Malaysia, which is dedicated to the development of small business, also seems to be bearing fruit," he said. CPA said small businesses in eight markets were surveyed on a range of issues, including plans to grow their e-commerce presence to a large extent. Malaysia ranked ahead of Hong Kong, Vietnam, China, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia, it said. It said according to the survey, Malaysia was ranked the highest in cost of doing business which have negatively impacted the small businesses. The CPA said small businesses in Malaysia also reported the most difficulty in accessing external finance. -- BERNAMA