Which Online Sales Should You Prepare For?

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Malaysian e-commerce sites tend to have a predetermined calendar for sales to happen. Some may be more important than others, and we’ve listed the most significant here so you don’t miss losing out on the best deals.

Singles’ Day or 11.11

The original massive online sale falls on November 11 each year. Often called Singles’ Day, or 11.11, it started life as a counter celebration for Valentine’s Day among single Chinese university students.

Online retailer Alibaba eventually popularised it as an online shopping event, which is now the biggest day for online retailers each year. Despite being its slowest growth year, they still made US$84.5 billion (RM356.6 billion) in sales in 2021!

Needless to say, Singles Day tends to offer the biggest discounts on the widest range of products. If there is one sale you should be saving up for, it would be this one. All major e-commerce retailers in Asia will be offering something for this event.

Chinese New Year / Hari Raya Aidilfitri / Deepavali / Christmas

The four major celebrations are a massive time for deals and discounts. Retailers take advantage of people looking to update their wardrobes, spring clean the house, and generally buy nice things to welcome guests into their homes.

You won’t miss these sales as every retailer (online and not) will be advertising them like crazy when the time comes.

7.7 / 8.8 / 9.9 / 10.10 / 12.12

The success of 11.11 drew a series of copycat sales. You’re more likely to see discounts from local retailers instead of international brands during these sales. This tends to mean that the bargains are found in fashion and groceries instead of big-ticket electronics.

While these make them less exciting, they can be a good time to stock up on whatever you need for the home if you’re on a tight budget. It can also reduce the amount of impulse buying you might end up doing.

The name of the sale refers to the date that it falls on, which follows the repeating day and month pattern from the original 11.11 sale.

This sales event is most usually observed by e-commerce sites that operate in Malaysia like Lazada, Shopee, and Zalora. They will begin advertising the event weeks in advance, and it would be helpful for you to subscribe to their newsletters if you’re not in the habit of online window shopping.

MYCYBERSALE

Organised by PIKOM and MDEC, the MYCYBERSALE tends to take place towards the end of the year. The exact date changes, but you can expect to see it taking place between the end of September and early December.

This sale largely focuses on local SMEs and retailers, which is a good way for you to support the local economy. However, it also means that the range of products is a lot smaller than the other sales happening around the year.

PIKOM tends to begin advertising the MYCYBERSALE in news outlets at least a month before the event. Due to its smaller scale, you may find it more difficult to find participating businesses. However, some sellers on popular local e-commerce platforms are likely to offer discounts during this time.

Black Friday/Cyber Monday

If Singles Day is originally a Chinese shopping event, then Black Friday and Cyber Monday are its American counterparts. Black Friday is normally held on the Friday following the American Thanksgiving celebration (which takes place on the last Thursday of October), while Cyber Monday is the Monday following Black Friday.

Malaysian e-commerce sites rarely observe these sales. However, Malaysians can still benefit from the discounts by shopping through sites like eBay and Amazon, or any other number of US based online retailers.

Those looking to shop during this time should look into freight forwarding services to reduce shipping fees.

Payday sales

A recent gimmick of a lot of shopping platforms, Payday sales are exactly what the name says, sales that happen on paydays. Yes, this means that the sales happens every month, on paydays.

For a lot of the shopping platforms, Payday sales usually happen on the 25th of every month, due to the fact that in Malaysia, civil servants and government employees’ payday is on the 25th.

Due to the fact that this sale happens every month, generally the sales and discounts offered are not really anything special.

One of the most popular Payday sale is Shopee’s Payday Sale.