Country rankings: Tech and ecommerce move up

It was something of a steady year in Malaysia, barring a few notable highs and lows.

The standout highs thanks to the inclusion of the e-commerce payments data, and unsurprisingly given the meteoric proliferation of online shopping in Malaysia, are Visa and Mastercard. They jumped 79 and 78 places respectively, Visa to 14 and Mastercard to 19.

Perhaps more intriguing is the movement inside the top 10. While of the brands remained the same, two tech brands displaced a camera maker Canon, which went from sixth to 13, and beloved food brand Maggi, which slipped two places to 12. LG and Toshiba took their places, pointing to tech products becoming top of mind for Malaysian consumers. LG rose 11 places from 19 in 2016 to eighth this year, while Toshiba moved up five places to 10.

Continuing to fly the flag as a shining local brand is AirAsia, which retained its top 10 status, although it dropped one position. On the other side of the same coin is Malaysia Airlines, which continues to drop in consumer’s estimations. From being ranked 39 in 2015 to 53 last year, the beleaguered carrier, despite going through a significant rebrand to shake off its recent troubles, sunk once more to 78 in 2017.

That drop of 25 places, while bad reading, pales in insignificance to the sheer demise suffered by Nikon. By far the biggest loser in this year’s Malaysia list, Nikon crashed an enormous 78 places to 99 from 21. Other brands that saw big losses include Japanese diaper brand Mamy Poko, which dropped to 100 from 64, and local toothpaste maker Darlie, which sunk 31 places to 87.

Among those celebrating positive news is online shopping portal Lazada, which continues to reflect the rapid growth in online and mobile commerce among Malaysian consumers. From its entry last year at 48, the brand has enjoyed an 15-place bump to 33 in 2017. This perhaps also indicates the investment made in the brand since its acquisition by Alibaba in November last year.

Another brand that has seen big success in 2017 is Philips. As in neighbouring countries such as Singapore, the brand in Malaysia is highly trusted as a home appliances maker, and this saw its impressive 28-place rise to 35 this year.

Another small but potentially significant shift is the decline Facebook experienced this year in Malaysia, down to 28 from 18. While still at the upper end of the list, its recent troubles around privacy and fake news, plus the plethora of other Asian social networks, may have exerted a reasonable level of influence among Malaysia consumers.