Malaysia Retail Sales 2026: Consumer Spending Data Explained

2. What Are Malaysia’s Retail Sales in 2026?

Quick Answer: Malaysia’s retail sales reached RM71.7 billion in August 2026, up 6.5% on August 2025, per DOSM. From January to August 2026, retail sales totalled RM570.1 billion, 6.8% higher than a year earlier. That is roughly RM71 billion a month, against an average of RM67.6 billion a month in 2025.

All figures here come from DOSM’s monthly wholesale and retail trade by division dataset on OpenDOSM, which now runs to August 2026. “Retail trade” is division 47: sales by shops, supermarkets, petrol stations, pharmacies, stalls and non-store sellers to households. It excludes car sales and wholesale. Here are the key figures:

Source: DOSM via OpenDOSM. Year-to-date and annual totals summed by ZenWeb from DOSM’s monthly series. Monthly figures may be revised in later releases.

The official monthly release text is on DOSM’s July 2026 wholesale and retail trade release. Before you plan around these numbers, check who is spending: our guide to B40, M40 and T20 income groups covers the income bands behind the totals.

3. Malaysia Retail Sales by Year, 2019 to 2026

Quick Answer: Malaysia’s annual retail sales grew from RM537.6 billion in 2019 to RM811.5 billion in 2025, a rise of about 51%. Sales fell 4.9% in 2020, then jumped 23.9% in 2022 as the economy reopened. Since 2024, growth has settled at around 6% a year, and 2026 is tracking slightly ahead.

The monthly Malaysia retail sales series behind this table is on DOSM’s wholesale and retail trade dashboard. Three patterns matter for planning:

• The 2022 jump was a reset, not a trend. Reopening, pent-up demand and EPF withdrawals pushed sales up almost a quarter in one year. Do not use 2022 as a growth benchmark.
• The new normal is about 6% a year. 2024 and 2025 both grew 6.1%. If your sales grow slower than that, you are losing share.
• Each month now adds roughly RM71 billion. That is about RM26 billion more per month than in 2019.

Much of the extra spending since 2019 has moved through digital checkouts, as our data on online payment methods in Malaysia shows.

4. Are Retail Sales Really Growing, or Is It Just Higher Prices?

Quick Answer: Both. In every month of 2026, retail sales in Malaysia grew 6.1% to 7.7% in value, but volume grew only 3.7% to 5.4%. The gap of about 2.5 points is higher prices. So Malaysians are buying roughly 4% more goods than a year ago, not 6.8% more.

Both growth series are published in DOSM’s retail trade value and volume data. Value is the ringgit total at the till. Volume strips out price changes, so it counts how much shoppers actually bought. What the gap tells you:

• February and March peaked. Ramadan, Hari Raya and Chinese New Year spending pushed both lines to their highest points of the year.
• Volume has drifted down since March. It slipped from 5.2% to 3.8% by August, while value held steady. Shoppers are paying more for a similar basket.
• Your revenue growth may flatter you. If you raised prices 3% and revenue rose 5%, your customer count may barely have moved.

That is why we tie budgets to festive peaks rather than flat monthly splits; see our Malaysian marketing calendar for the dates that move these numbers.

5. Where Do Malaysians Spend? Retail Sales by Store Type

Quick Answer: Non-specialised stores such as supermarkets, hypermarkets and department stores took 38.7% of Malaysia’s RM811.5 billion retail sales in 2025. Specialist stores selling clothing, pharmacy, beauty and jewellery took 21.0%. Household goods took 11.3% and petrol stations 9.2%. Electronics and leisure goods grew slowest since 2019.

The store-type split of retail sales in Malaysia comes from DOSM’s wholesale and retail trade by group dataset. Read it as a map of where marketing budgets compete:

• Everyday baskets dominate. Supermarkets, food specialists and petrol stations together took over half of retail spending, and all grew more than 65% since 2019.
• Big-ticket and leisure goods lag. Electronics and leisure goods grew only 16% in six years, and furniture and appliances 28%. Buyers delay these purchases when budgets tighten, so expect longer research and more comparison.
• Specialists are the growth middle. Fashion, pharmacy and beauty stores grew 47% and are still adding 6.9% a year.

Spending power is not spread evenly, either. Our median household income by state data shows where households have room for those bigger purchases.

6. How Big Is Consumer Spending in Malaysia’s Economy?

Quick Answer: Private consumption, or household spending, was RM1.25 trillion in 2025 at current prices and made up 60.5% of Malaysia’s real GDP. It grew 5.3% in real terms in 2025, then 4.7% in Q1 2026 and 4.8% in Q2 2026. Malaysia’s retail sales are the largest visible slice of this spending.

The figures come from DOSM’s GDP by expenditure at constant prices and at current prices. DOSM’s Q2 2026 GDP release adds the latest detail:

• Spending is steady, not surging. Private consumption grew 4.8% in Q2 2026, after 4.7% in Q1, while GDP grew 6.0%.
• Experiences are leading. DOSM names restaurants and hotels, transport, food and communication as the main drivers of household spending.
• Consumers carry the economy. Household spending makes up six of every ten ringgit of GDP, so it stays the biggest demand engine.

Cashless habits are shaping how that spending happens; see our e-wallet usage data and DuitNow QR and cashless payment trends.

7. Why Do DOSM and Retail Group Malaysia Numbers Differ?

Quick Answer: DOSM counts the ringgit value of all retail trade, including petrol and price rises. Retail Group Malaysia (RGM) reports figures from organised retail chains in the main retail associations. So DOSM showed about 6.7% growth for Q2 2026, while RGM reported just 2.5%. Neither is wrong; they measure different shops in different ways.

RGM’s latest figures, reported by The Star in September 2026, show growth of 3.7% in Q1 and 2.5% in Q2. RGM projects 4.7% for Q3 and 3.8% for the full year. Here is how the two measures of Malaysia’s retail sales compare:

The Q2 DOSM figure is ZenWeb’s sum of April to June 2026 against the same months of 2025. RGM’s category detail shows the split inside that 2.5%:

• Fashion and accessories grew 12.9%, the strongest category, with personal care up 4.1% and pharmacy up 3.7%.
• Supermarkets and hypermarkets fell 9.0%, and department stores fell 7.2%.
• Furniture and electrical goods fell 5.8%, matching the slow big-ticket growth in DOSM’s data.

8. How Much Retail Spending Happens Online?

Quick Answer: DOSM’s online retail sales index grew 9.0% in June 2026 and 7.4% in July 2026, faster than total retail sales in Malaysia. But pure non-store sellers took only 1.0% of retail sales in 2025, because DOSM files a store’s online orders under its main store type.

The online index figures were reported by The Star from DOSM’s July 2026 release. That 1.0% figure is easy to misread. DOSM classifies businesses by their main activity, so:

• A fashion brand’s website orders usually sit in the specialist-store group, not under online retail.
• Supermarket delivery apps count as supermarket sales.
• Only businesses that sell mainly online or by direct selling appear in the non-store group, which still grew 92% since 2019.

For the full online picture, use our online shopping habits in Malaysia and e-commerce statistics for Malaysia. Our internet users in Malaysia data covers reach, while Buy Now Pay Later statistics show how shoppers stretch budgets at checkout.

9. What This Means for Your Marketing in 2026

Quick Answer: Retail sales in Malaysia are growing about 6.8% in value but only 4% in volume, with shoppers trading down and buying selectively. Benchmark your growth against your category, track customers rather than revenue, put budget behind festive peaks, and capture the research phase online.

Here is the process we follow when turning retail data into a plan:

1. Benchmark against your category. Compare your growth with your store type in Section 5, not with the 6.8% headline.
2. Separate price from volume. Track orders and new customers monthly, so price increases do not hide a shrinking customer base.
3. Weight budget to peak months. Raise spend ahead of Raya, Chinese New Year and year-end sales; our Google Ads seasonality guide and 11.11 and 12.12 marketing guide cover timing.
4. Win the comparison stage. Value-conscious buyers search and compare before they visit a store, so make sure your products show up there.
5. Measure what each channel sells. Use sales attribution by channel and Google Search Console to see which searches lead to sales.

Then match each channel to the buyer you are chasing:

Audience fit matters too. Fashion and beauty, RGM’s strongest categories, lean on younger shoppers; our Gen Z Malaysia data and TikTok users in Malaysia figures show where to reach them. Planning all of this together is what our digital marketing team does.

10. Conclusion

Quick Answer: Malaysia retail sales reached RM811.5 billion in 2025 and are up 6.8% in 2026 so far. Real volume growth is closer to 4%, everyday categories lead, big-ticket goods lag, and chain stores are under pressure. Steady, well-targeted marketing beats waiting for a spending boom.

Use the annual table to set your benchmark, the value-versus-volume chart to check real growth, and the store-type data to see where your category stands. DOSM updates the monthly figures roughly six weeks after each month ends, so revisit your plan each quarter.

If you want help turning these numbers into campaigns, our digital marketing services start with your own sales data.

11. Frequently Asked Questions

1. What were Malaysia’s retail sales in 2025?

Retail trade sales totalled RM811.5 billion in 2025, up 6.1% from RM764.9 billion in 2024, based on DOSM’s monthly data. That works out to about RM67.6 billion a month. Retail volume, which removes price changes, grew about 4.5%.

2. How fast are retail sales growing in Malaysia in 2026?

From January to August 2026, retail sales reached RM570.1 billion, up 6.8% on the same period of 2025. August alone was RM71.7 billion, up 6.5%. After removing price increases, volume grew 3.8% in August.

3. Why does Retail Group Malaysia report lower growth than DOSM?

RGM reports on organised retail chains and malls, while DOSM measures the value of all retail trade, including petrol stations and small shops. In Q2 2026, RGM reported 2.5% growth while DOSM’s figures showed about 6.7%. The gap shows chain stores growing slower than the overall market.

4. How much of Malaysia’s GDP is consumer spending?

Private consumption made up 60.5% of Malaysia’s GDP in 2025 at constant prices. At current prices it was worth RM1.25 trillion. It grew 5.3% in real terms in 2025 and 4.8% in Q2 2026.

5. When does DOSM release Malaysia retail sales data?

DOSM publishes wholesale and retail trade figures monthly, roughly six weeks after the month ends. For example, July 2026 data came out on 11 September 2026. The full monthly series is free to download on OpenDOSM.