Online Friday 2019 hopes to attract 1,000 brands

Hanoi (VNA) – The country’s biggest online shopping event, Online Friday, will return on December 6 with the participation of a large number of Vietnamese businesses and brands on various e-commerce platforms.

Online Friday 2019 will take place under the theme “Super sales – Genuine goods”.

At a press conference held on November 12, Dang Hoang Hai, Director of the Vietnam E-Commerce and Digital Economy Agency (iDEA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said an important highlight of this year’s Online Friday is the participation of Vietnamese businesses and brands on e-commerce platforms to help increase distribution chances in the domestic market and diversify export channels in foreign markets.

The event will help raise the standing of the enterprises whose products have won the trust of domestic and foreign consumers, he noted.

Meanwhile, the largest BigOff event of the e-commerce sector in 2019 will be held from November 29 to December 8, during which enterprises will offer big promotion programmes like tickets priced 0 VND for flights to domestic and international destinations, and discounts of 50 – 90 percent on various products.

Organisers said the BigOff event, named the e-commerce and digital technology experience week, of the Online Friday programme will be a golden chance for businesses to boost their sales through direct contact with consumers.

[Tighter regulations needed to prevent fake goods online]

Notably, Online Friday 2019 will for the first time help businesses sell goods through e-voucher systems, thus enhancing shopping experiences for customers.

Customers may buy vouchers prior to the sale day and then use them to buy products online on the event day.

This will give consumers time to search information and pre-order products, Hai said, adding that the event organiser would help with e-vouchers, whether they are for online or offline shops.

Businesses must have proof of clear origin and genuine goods. The organiser will cooperate with e-commerce platforms, sellers and distributors to launch super promotions. Super-sale items vary from essential items for New Year’s events, household appliances, cosmetics and fashion to technology products and airline tickets.

The event will also see more delivery enterprises such as Viettel Post, VnPost, Fast Delivery and Be support customers with delivery costs. E-payment solution companies such as ViettelPay, VnPay, ZaloPay are also expected to launch promotions and savings when customers make transactions electronically.

According to Hai, Vietnam’s e-commerce market is forecast to grow 30 percent this year with an increase in the number of e-commerce businesses and platforms.

Online Friday 2019 is expected to draw the participation of 1,000 producers and distributors, 50,000 products, 20 million customer interactions and 20,000 successful buyers via e-vouchers. The total order value of the whole market is expected to surpass 2.5 trillion VND (107.4 million USD).

This is the sixth consecutive year Online Friday has been held and it has become the biggest online shopping day in Vietnam.

The first national online shopping day in 2014 saw a modest transaction total of 180 billion VND. Since then, the programnme has developed strongly, boosting its turnover to more than 2 trillion VND last year with 1.8 million orders on the system of e-commerce and social networks.

According to Open Gov Asia, Vietnam's digital economy was valued at 9 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach 30 billion by 2025.

In an article published on September 24, the Singapore-based content platform said Vietnam’s digital economy is growing rapidly, making important contributions to the country’s economy.

Over the past years, the country has witnessed an increase in online shopping, the article said, adding that the boom of e-commerce and the emergence of new business models on the Internet have changed consumption habits of Vietnamese people.

It stressed that e-commerce is the fastest developed field in Vietnam, growing at about 30 percent a year, with revenue in 2018 valuing at about 8 billion USD and predicted to reach at least 10 billion USD by 2020./.