5 HOT Malaysian consumer trends for 2009

Thursday December 16 2010 12:19:15 pm

Username
go
GO Register for Full Access type and press enter Search

HOME POLITICS BUSINESS CONTACT US THE EDGE PROPERTY THE EDGE SINGAPORE THE EDGE POLLS

Newsflash Motor racing-HRT could have been best newcomers, says team boss

5 HOT Malaysian consumer trends for 2009

Tags: consumer trends | synovate

Written by Emily Tan

Tuesday, 24 February 2009 18:08

5 HOT Malaysian consumer trends for 2009

Marketers and trendwatchers will have to learn some new words this year, like “digital natives” and “prosumers”. They are
among the consumer trends for 2009 highlighted in Synovate’s report released last month, based on surveys and research
conducted over the last two years in Malaysia and the region.
“Our forecast is our attempt to give people an indication of what will be driving consumers this year,” says Steve Murphy,
managing director of Synovate Sdn Bhd in a recent phone interview.
The conclusion Murphy wants marketers to take away from Synovate’s forecast is: “You cannot fit tomorrow’s solutions in
yesterday’s containers”. Marketers need to “let go and connect” with consumers as relationships become more interactive
and inter-dependent. Traditional advertisers and media will be overwhelmed by the digitally driven changes if they do not
embrace this industry-transforming change, says the Synovate report.
Here are Synovate’s five consumer trends for 2009.

1 DigitALL

According to the Synovate Media Atlas Malaysia 2008, about 29% of the Malaysian population are already categorised as
“digital natives”. Murphy explains “digital natives” as the population segment who have grown up with the Internet and
technology. “For them, the Internet is completely normal, and their main source of information.”
This group is described by Synovate as falling into two categories — 15% are primarily Chinese males aged 20-29 who are
independent and modern. They are well-educated and fall into the upper middle-class income bracket. The other category
comprises young students aged 15-29, who are primarily female (57%) and Malay (73%). Both these groups are extremely
tech savvy and communicate heavily via SMS.
“Understanding this group of consumers is important to marketers, not only because they are a substantial portion of the
population, but because they are opinion leaders on adopting new technology and ideas,” says Murphy.

2 Screen-based generation

The trend towards tech-savvy consumers has resulted in their main medium of media interaction being a screen — in one
form or another. Murphy points out that a mere decade or so ago, the only screen consumers thought of was the television.
Now, “screens” mean everything from computers to iPods, making it necessary for advertisers to move towards greater
diversity in their communication platforms.
Statistics presented in the Synovate PAX 2007 survey, which tracks media use of upscale demographic groups in Asia-
Pacific, Middle East and Latin America, indicate that almost all elite adults in Asia-Pacific have access to a television set
(99%), a mobile phone (93%) and computer (80%).

3 Social prosumer

There is also a clear trend towards proactive consumers (prosumers). These are consumers who actively generate content
for sites, communicate with brands, and network online. In Malaysia, this group is dominated by Malaysian youth aged 20-
24, according to the Synovate Media Atlas Malaysia Q3 2007-Q2 2008.
“Communication between brands and the consumer used to be one way. Now, it is a lot more interactive,” says Murphy.
“The best brands, such as Nike and Coca Cola, invite consumers to interact, to provide ideas and feedback in exchange for

http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/component/content/article/743.html[16/12/2010 12:24:17 PM]

5 HOT Malaysian consumer trends for 2009

rewards.”
The global research company feels that prosumers are a gold mine waiting to be tapped. According to Synovate's forecast,
new technology has created a “million entrepreneurs”, and marketing and product development is now a two-way street.
This implies that marketers should learn to engage consumers in shaping the brand with an open-source approach, and
allow consumers to share revenue on consumer-created products.

4 Perpetual partial attention

The ability to multitask is an observed trait of Generation Y. This means, however, that most forms of media are, at best,
receiving only partial attention from young adults. Malaysian respondents in the Synovate Young Asians Survey 2007 said
that they often chat online while surfing, answering emails, working and talking on the phone — all while listening to music.
So intensely do Malaysian youth (aged 8-24) multitask, that the survey found they were able to fit a sum total of 43.8 hours
of media activities into a 24-hour day! This makes them the highest regionally when it comes to multitasking, compared with
Hong Kong (42.6 hours) and Singapore (39.1 hours).
For marketers, it means that commercials are constantly competing for attention amidst information overload. “They have to
be very careful in their media selection to achieve a voice without media fragmentation. Furthermore, innovation and
creativity is needed to cut through the clutter,” observes Murphy.

5 Mobile

Increasingly, the Internet and mobile phones are becoming the most essential medium for interacting with consumers. In the
Young Asians Survey 2007, 37% of youth aged 15-24 in Asia-Pacific responded that they “could not live without” the
Internet, with 29% saying the same thing about their mobile phones. This compared with only 2% stating that they could not
live without the radio.
The same survey found that 64% of Malaysians aged 8-24 own a mobile phone, and 50% a desktop computer or laptop.
Among Singaporeans in the same age group, 76% owned a mobile phone, and 58% a desktop computer or laptop. “These
devices are no longer a luxury, they are a necessity. Everyone has mobile phones now, it’s part of normal life,” says Murphy.
“Marketers must use these mediums to reach their consumers.”

This article appeared in the Jan 26, 2009 issue of Manager@Work, the monthly management pullout of The Edge.

Facelift for A&W< Prev Next >5 lessons from leading luxury brands

Back to top

Last Updated on Thursday, 12 March 2009 14:05

Sorry, you cannot post a comment unless you are a registered user.

JComments

Home | About Us | Contact Us | Advertise with Us | Terms of Use | PrivilEdge | Subscribe | Sitemap Download

© All rights reserved. 2009. The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd. (266980-X)
Website developed by Bitter-Coffee Studio

http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/component/content/article/743.html[16/12/2010 12:24:17 PM]