Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/14/2014 -- A low unemployment rate, growing urbanisation and improved standards of living for Malaysians living in rural areas will result in a strong rise in household spending across all retail subsectors over the next few years. We are particularly positive about the future growth prospects for education spending, with expenditure on restaurants & hotels and health also forecast to grow strongly. However, we expect the highest proportion of the household budget to be spent on food and drink throughout our forecast period.

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The new Malaysia retail report provides an extensive and comprehensive forecast of various retail indicators including household spending and headline total spending across each retail subsector, household income and employment forecasts, demographic forecasts and a detailed breakdown of household and per capita spending across a large number of retail areas including food & drink, clothing & footwear, household goods, and a number of other subsectors.

The retail landscape in Malaysia has been transformed over the past decade, with modern retail formats such as hypermarkets, supermarkets and department stores increasing in dominance over traditional 'mom and pop' outlets. Although there are still large numbers of small outlets, open markets and nonpermanent retail facilities, organised retail in Malaysia has a far stronger presence than in many comparative Asian markets.

In the wider retail market, the opening of large shopping malls has increased the lifestyle element of shopping in Malaysia, with retail concepts carefully chosen to appeal to specific consumer groups. The country has a very young customer base, and the demand for lifestyle products is high. Kuala Lumpur alone has around 70 shopping malls, and Selangor about 60. The total retail space in these two territories is estimated at 3.37mn m2.

We see long-term potential in the Malaysian consumer market, particularly for non-essential items and aspirational purchasing by a growing, affluent middle class. We forecast the average net household income will be US$21,749 in 2014, with a large percentage (62.8%) of households already in the middleincome wage bracket of US$10,000+. By 2018, our data suggest that almost 72% of households will earn more than US$10,000, which represents the key demographic for increased household spending on luxury items beyond necessities such as food, utilities and transport. Greater earning power will result in a corresponding increase in household spending on clothing & footwear and high-end household appliances. Meanwhile, transport expenditure will also continue to rise as a larger number of households purchase cars and bikes and travel longer distances, including the purchase of holiday flights.

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