Thanh Hoa works to promote e-commerce, digital transformation

IT programmers working at Ligosoft company in Thanh Hoa city (Photo: baothanhhoa.vn)

Hanoi (VNA) – The central province of Thanh Hoa are applying measures to boost the development of e-commerce and speed up digital transformation to catch up with the current trend of the domestic and global economy.

With the outbreak of COVID-19 and the implementation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the Vietnamese and global economies are growing towards digital economy.

Experts held that digital transformation and e-commerce will boom in 2021, creating a new momentum for economic growth.

E-commerce in Vietnam reached a value of over 3 billion USD in 2015, with average annual growth of 38 percent. In 2019, the retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue via e-commerce hit 12 billion USD.

An average growth rate of 29 percent is forecast for the 2015 - 2025 period, according to surveys by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and international organisations.

However, most of e-commerce activities still take place in the two biggest cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, which account for 18 percent of Vietnam’s population but more than 70 percent of e-commerce transactions in the country. The 70-percent proportion stayed stable throughout the 2016 - 2019 period. That means the 61 remaining localities, making up 82 percent of the population, contribute to less than 30 percent of the local e-commerce market,

In Thanh Hoa, e-commerce has expanded fast with 70 percent of local firms using email for information exchange and transactions, 50 percent of companies having their own websites, 35 percent engaging in e-commerce activities, and 10 percent applying professional software in their governance and business activities.

Online payment has become more popular among local firms with rising number of company applying e-payment methods.

Being aware of the economic trend, many local firms have pioneered in updating and applying e-commerce platforms, which has given them prominent advantages in production and business, especially in import and export activities.

According to Nguyen Xuan Thang, head of the Import and Export Division of the Thanh Hoa Department of Industry and Trade, the province defines e-commerce as one of the key part of the digital economy. Over the years, the province’s industry and trade sector has increased activities to support enterprises to apply e-commerce platforms.

The sector has assisted local firms to build websites that are suitable to their products and services and conduct marketing activities on the websites, while creating optimal conditions for them to join e-commerce platforms and implement online marketing activities.

In order to create favourable conditions for e-commerce activities in the future, Thanh Hoa has built a provincial digital transformation project for the 2021-2025 period with a vision to 2030.

The project defines the need to develop infrastructure as well as mechanisms and policies to create resources and ecology system for the sustainable development of e-commerce.

Under the project, Thanh Hoa will build its system of personal identity  and a digital database on local residents and businesses which is connected with the provincial online portal for public services as well as other online service supply systems.

Thanh Hoa will complete its online payment platform, while diversifying payment partners and multiplying the model for public services. It will promote the growth of e-commerce and logistics in the provincial scale.

Meanwhile, Thanh Hoa will build its own e-commerce platforms and develop infrastructure for online payment without using cash to serve e-commerce activities.

At the same time, digital postal infrastructure will be expanded to become a part of the logistics system for e-commerce activities. Thanh Hoa will assist local firms to sell handicraft and agricultural products, thus developing traditional craft villages and agricultural sector, turning every new-style rural area into an online farm produce supermarket./.