A website teaches Vietnamese buyers how to sell their products on Amazon.com. (Photo courtesy of Salekit) Accordingto experts during an online seminar titled "Solutions for exportersin the digital transformation process" organised by the VietnamInternational Arbitration Center (VIAC) and the Vietnam E-commerce Association(VECOM) yesterday, the pandemic had a negative impact on economicdevelopment nationwide, especially the manufacturing industry. However italso drove local digital transformation and created many breakthroughs in smartmanufacturing, while businesses have found new directions by applying digitaltransformation in their production activities.
ChauViet Bac, Deputy Secretary-General of VIAC, said that cross-border e-commercein 2021 will increase by 25.7 percent from 2020, adding traditional import andexport transactions were gradually replaced by websites and e-commerceplatforms.
Bacsaid: "Contracts using electronic signatures also increased by 17 percentcompared to before the pandemic,” adding “timely digital transformation willhelp businesses maintain operations.”
NguyenNgoc Dung, Vice President of VECOM, said the trend of global cross-bordere-commerce from 2014-2020 has increased from 17 percent to 41 percent andglobal cross-border e-commerce transactions in 2021 to date was estimated at 1.25trillion USD.
Atthe same time, he said Vietnamese e-commerce platforms are graduallydeveloping, with many high-value products being offered for sale online such ascars, electronic equipment and technology.
VECOM'sleader added the world's largest e-commerce platform Amazon has invested in andsupported Vietnam by using Vietnamese domain names and Vietnamese language,saying: "This shows that the Vietnamese market has potential fordevelopment. Many Vietnamese products such as kitchenware and traditionalproducts are popular and have sold well on Amazon.”
InVietnam, e-commerce was becoming a more and more effective channel for localproducts, especially agricultural ones, with Ben Tre coconut sold onLazada, Dong Thap lotus sold on Tiki and clean dragon fruits of cooperatives inBinh Thuan sold online too.
Dungsaid many farmers didn't think they could sell dragon fruitwith livestreams, but after training, they started to gain orders bothdomestically and from abroad.
Dung,however, mentioned that e-commerce in rural localities, the production hubs,only accounted for 30 percent of the e-commerce structure while the remaining70 percent of growth was in big cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City,adding: “It is necessary to narrow the gap.”
Bacsaid: “An effective digital transformation process must have a reasonablestrategy and action, especially paying attention to the legal mechanism to besafe and effective”
NguyenTuan Hoa, arbitrator of VIAC, said that businesses that wanted to convertdigitally for export needed to know how to approach platforms and havereasonable solutions. He said major requirements to be met were to have aproduct traceability system and maintain the quality and competitiveness ofproducts.
Hoasaid in the context that the local production and business process was mainlymanually produced with low labour productivity while production was stillconsuming raw materials and energy, causing environmental pollution, “thingsmust be changed”.
Hoasaid the future-oriented production process must be intelligent automaticproduction, high labour productivity, low consumption of raw materials andenergy, especially to improve the customer experience.
Todo this, Hoa said: “It is necessary to have digital platforms to developphysical-digital systems, digital infrastructure, digital policies, digitalhuman resources.
"Digitaltransformation is a revolution in every business where they must havepioneering leaders, connect experts, develop new production methods, integratetechnology solutions and have a data management system," the expert said.
Hoacontinued: “In the near future, the Government will issue a National Strategyon the development of the digital economy and digital society. In the strategy,there is a plan to develop a team of consultants for digital transformation,advising all industries and professions."
NguyenTrung Nam, Executive Director of Tinh Tú Associates Law Firm (EP Legal), saidthat there are many potential inadequacies and risks in commercial activitieswith the element of digitisation.
Namconsidered one as identity risk as it would be more difficult to verify theidentity of a partner, which could lead to illegal activities such as moneylaundering and forging documents.
Namadded: "Also, gathering evidence in the event of a dispute is alsodifficult. Data can be difficult to access or inaccessible. In addition, it canbe deleted, overwritten, encrypted or hidden," he said.
Therefore,he said e-commerce transactions need to pay attention to verify the electronicidentity and find information about the trading floor of exporting goods,adding: “It is necessary to pay attention to customs and tax procedures and tonote the separate regulations of each e-commerce platform.”
"VIACencourages the parties to agree on sessions, including preliminary meetings andonline dispute resolution through available platforms," he said./.
VNA
