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Cash might still be king in most parts of Asia. But there's no denying the growing prominence of e-wallets over the past few years, especially in Southeast Asia.
A 2023 study by IDC, a global market intelligence agency, revealed that there was a significant boom in mobile wallet payments made by the SEAKJ (Southeast Asia, Korea, and Japan) digital economy, yielding US$118.7 billion in 2022 alone. This figure is expected to rise in the years ahead.
Given the widespread use of digital payments in Asia, international merchants need to invest more time in learning about payment behaviours in their target region as well as the top e-wallets in the markets they wish to enter or grow in.
When there's a significant lack of payment choices for consumers, business owners bear the risk of deterring their customers, causing them to abandon their purchases altogether — and no business wants that.
Accepting payments from e-wallets can thus help you reduce cart abandonment among your customers in Malaysia. One of the most popular e-wallets in the country is Boost.
Introducing the Boost e-wallet
Founded in 2017, Boost has grown to become one of Malaysia's leading e-wallets today. It offers a range of payment services for dining, shopping, and even traveling, with businesses spanning both offline and online retailers.
In fact, Boost paved the way for the use of QR code payments in Malaysia during their early years and played a pivotal role in encouraging fellow payments providers to follow suit. Today, they have a presence across seven countries in SEA and successfully grew their customer base to over 10 million users and its Malaysian merchant base to 505,000 in 2022.
Malaysia's Boost provides personal and business finance solutions
While locals primarily use it for personal finance such as making every day cashless transactions and paying bills, Boost also provides merchant solutions for businesses, including international QR payments and merchant perks. Boost also has a cross-border payment business and an AI-based micro-financing business.
Over the years, Boost has made significant contributions to accelerating financial inclusion and catering to the underserved sectors in the country. That's why Boost wallet continues to be a preferred e-wallet option for Malaysians.
How Boost Works & What Are Its Key Features
The Boost app functions as a prepaid wallet that lets people load funds as 'credits' for their transactions. After topping up the e-wallet, consumers can begin using their Boost wallet to scan and pay at more than 200,000 merchant locations throughout the country, as well as online.
As for businesses, Boost can be integrated seamlessly into their payment options. Customers can simply select 'Boost' as their preferred payment method at checkout, where they'll then be redirected to a Boost website and prompted to complete the payment. Once the customer authorizes the transaction via PIN or biometric security, the payment is then confirmed. It's that simple!
While Boost is mainly recognised for enabling payments and transfers, it also has a myriad of features for both personal and business banking. Local companies can sign up as a Boost Merchant to access Boost's business banking features.
Personal banking features
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Personal banking feature: |
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BoostBills allows users to manage their bill payments on a unified platform in just a few clicks on their laptop, tablet, or smartphone, featuring more than 50 partners covering various bill categories including Internet, water, electricity, telco postpaid and more.
Users can also conveniently top up their prepaid balance in-app whenever they need to. |
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Users can increase their savings, earning interest of up to 2.5% per annum when they open a Savings Account.
They can do so without being required to provide a minimum deposit or committing to a lock-in period. |
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This feature lets users create savings accounts and identify financial goals for each — the digital equivalent of putting cash savings in different physical jars for different purposes. Jars provides attractive interest rates and also acts as an expense management tool. |
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Users enjoy special offers like exclusive deals and vouchers, boosted interest rates on their savings, and loyalty rewards (Boost Stars) redeemable through the app. |
Business banking features
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Business banking feature: |
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Businesses can manage day-to-day financial tasks more efficiently with features like local and international QR payment management, instant payment links, and an analytics tool for trend forecasting. |
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Boost Connect facilitates cross-border payments and serves as a platform for customer expansion for digital partners.
Through this feature, Boost has helped more than 100 digital partners reach and connect with more than 1 billion consumers through mobile operators, e-wallet providers, e-marketplaces and more. |
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For qualified candidates, Boost offers SME business financing of up to MYR 2,000,000 to raise capital for their business. The financing options include short-term, supply-chain, and invoice financing. |
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Boost partners with providers of cloud-based software and comprehensive point-of-sale solutions to give merchants the tools they need to digitalise their workflows. |
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Businesses can learn more about their customers, analyse their sales performance, and identify potential competitors in their industry with Biz Booster, Boost's business management app. |
How businesses outside Malaysia can accept payments from Boost wallet
Expanding into Southeast Asian markets means navigating different payment channels, currencies, and financial regulations that come with cross-border transactions. That's why understanding your target region and tailoring the right payment choices for your market is essential.
By partnering with a global payment solutions providers like Antom, international businesses can accept payments from Boost e-wallet. Antom supports merchants in over 40 countries and regions and offers more than 250 payment methods worldwide with a single integration, simplifying global payment processing for expansion to Asia and around the world.
Want to learn more about local e-wallets within the Asian market and the various payment coverage options available? Get in touch with Antom's payment experts today.
