Illustrative photo (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - With a developing economy and a population of over 97 million in 2020, Vietnam is a promising market for e-commerce and that promise has only grown over the last year despite the coronavirus pandemic, said an article published by the South China Morning Post on June 1.
The article cited a January 2021 report by the country’s Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy, which said 53 percent of the Vietnamese population has already took part in online retail.
It also said the “E-conomy SEA 2020” report from Google, Temasek and Bain & Company pointed out that e-commerce in Vietnam grew 46 percent year on year, alongside strong growth across most sectors except for travel. Looking towards 2025, the report suggested the economy will reach 52 billion USD in value, ranking third in Southeast Asia.
According to the article, the fast-growing middle class is driving the sector’s increasing expenditure, with its number reaching 33 million in 2020, up from 12 million in 2012. As the local middle class expands, there’s also a growing interest in top luxury brands, the author said.
The second most popular channel for shopping for luxury brands is through social networks, the article said, adding that Vietnamese spend about seven hours per day on average on the internet, mostly on Facebook and YouTube but also on Zalo (a local chat app) and Instagram.
It concluded that this all suggests Vietnam can be a gold mine for individual small sellers with private online shops. Fashion and beauty are the two most common searches and purchases online too, accounting for 55 percent and 30 percent respectively, according to the Asia Plus survey.
During COVID-19, e-commerce further surged, noted the author, citing a report conducted by iPrice Group and App Annie, which showed that the total number of visits to online shopping applications in Vietnam in the second quarter of 2020 reached 12.7 billion, the highest ever, and up 43 percent compared to the first quarter. In the first six months of 2020, the average spending on online shopping of Vietnamese people increased by 31 percent compared to the same period in 2019./.
VNA
