Domestic websites have been dominating the home e-commerce market, butthe market situation would change someday, according to an articlepublished on the English-language online newspaper VietNamNet Bridge.
comScore,a market survey firm late last year released a report showing that fourof the five biggest commerce websites in Vietnam are Vietnamese run.The only foreign one is lazada.vn.
Also according to comScore,Vietnam is the only economy in Southeast Asia where domestic retailwebsites dominate the market. Meanwhile, other markets such asIndonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines or Singapore have beendominated by foreign ones.
The report also pointed out that theVietnamese run vatgia.com alone attracted 50 percent of the total hitsto the five websites. The online retail chain has attracted 20,000stalls which had the total trading value of 5 trillion VND (235 millionUSD) in 2013.
Two reasons have been cited to explain the strength of the Vietnamese retail firms in the domestic market.
NguyenNgoc Diep, Managing Director of vatgia.com, said the Vietnamesee-commerce market is not big enough to attract foreign investment.
Meanwhile,some analysts believe that Vietnamese firms, with the goodunderstanding the domestic market and the advanced corporate governanceskills applied by their owners, who finished foreign schools, can helpthem compete well with foreign firms.
However, Nguyen Thanh Hung,Deputy Chair of the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM), who was anofficial of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s E-commerce andInformation Technology Agency, believes that the current dominance bydomestic websites would not persist.
Hung commented that thecurrent situation would change in the near future, when the policies ondoing business on Internet get perfect and more Vietnamese get familiarto online shopping.
He affirmed that once the Vietnamese marketgets more bustling with more online shoppers, a lot of big foreigninvestors would jump into the market.
Analysts also noted that some foreign investors now move ahead with their plans to penetrate the Vietnamese e-commerce market.
Sourcessaid the Japanese Rakuten Ichiba would set foot in Vietnam this year.The big guy is managing 40,000 online stalls in Japan and has a recordhigh number of customers of 75 million.
Rakuten has been presentin Thailand since 2009 after buying 67 percent of Tarad.com stakes. In2010, the group joined forces with Global Mediacom, a media company inIndonesia, to set up the retail chain Rakuten Belanja Online there.
Meanwhile,Rocket Internet, the owner of lazada.vn, the only foreign owned websitein the top 5, has been unceasingly expanding its investment inSoutheast Asia.
In early December 2013, it successfully raisedthe funds worth 120 million USD to develop the two fashion retailwebsites – Zalora (zalora.vn) in Vietnam and Iconic in Australia.
Just one week later, the group announced the additional investment of 250 million USD in Lazada.
Analystsnoted that Rakuten and Rocket Internet are following different ways toaccess the market. While Rocket Internet always marches towards at“rocket’s” speed, Rakuten tends to go more slowly and take cautioussteps by cooperating with local firms.
Vatgia.com, with 1,000workers, which has been developed with the investment capital of 15million USD, is looking for the investors who can pour some 20 millionUSD to help upgrade its strength.-VNA
comScore,a market survey firm late last year released a report showing that fourof the five biggest commerce websites in Vietnam are Vietnamese run.The only foreign one is lazada.vn.
Also according to comScore,Vietnam is the only economy in Southeast Asia where domestic retailwebsites dominate the market. Meanwhile, other markets such asIndonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines or Singapore have beendominated by foreign ones.
The report also pointed out that theVietnamese run vatgia.com alone attracted 50 percent of the total hitsto the five websites. The online retail chain has attracted 20,000stalls which had the total trading value of 5 trillion VND (235 millionUSD) in 2013.
Two reasons have been cited to explain the strength of the Vietnamese retail firms in the domestic market.
NguyenNgoc Diep, Managing Director of vatgia.com, said the Vietnamesee-commerce market is not big enough to attract foreign investment.
Meanwhile,some analysts believe that Vietnamese firms, with the goodunderstanding the domestic market and the advanced corporate governanceskills applied by their owners, who finished foreign schools, can helpthem compete well with foreign firms.
However, Nguyen Thanh Hung,Deputy Chair of the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM), who was anofficial of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s E-commerce andInformation Technology Agency, believes that the current dominance bydomestic websites would not persist.
Hung commented that thecurrent situation would change in the near future, when the policies ondoing business on Internet get perfect and more Vietnamese get familiarto online shopping.
He affirmed that once the Vietnamese marketgets more bustling with more online shoppers, a lot of big foreigninvestors would jump into the market.
Analysts also noted that some foreign investors now move ahead with their plans to penetrate the Vietnamese e-commerce market.
Sourcessaid the Japanese Rakuten Ichiba would set foot in Vietnam this year.The big guy is managing 40,000 online stalls in Japan and has a recordhigh number of customers of 75 million.
Rakuten has been presentin Thailand since 2009 after buying 67 percent of Tarad.com stakes. In2010, the group joined forces with Global Mediacom, a media company inIndonesia, to set up the retail chain Rakuten Belanja Online there.
Meanwhile,Rocket Internet, the owner of lazada.vn, the only foreign owned websitein the top 5, has been unceasingly expanding its investment inSoutheast Asia.
In early December 2013, it successfully raisedthe funds worth 120 million USD to develop the two fashion retailwebsites – Zalora (zalora.vn) in Vietnam and Iconic in Australia.
Just one week later, the group announced the additional investment of 250 million USD in Lazada.
Analystsnoted that Rakuten and Rocket Internet are following different ways toaccess the market. While Rocket Internet always marches towards at“rocket’s” speed, Rakuten tends to go more slowly and take cautioussteps by cooperating with local firms.
Vatgia.com, with 1,000workers, which has been developed with the investment capital of 15million USD, is looking for the investors who can pour some 20 millionUSD to help upgrade its strength.-VNA
