Administrative agencies have been doing their utmost to facilitate e-commerce development, affirmed Tran Huu Linh, Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s E-Commerce and Information Technology Agency.

Linh made the statement at the Vietnam E-commerce 2012 Forum in Ho Chi Minh City on December 14.

The forum was held by the city’s Department of Industry and Trade in coordination with the E-commerce and Information Technology Agency and Vietnam E-commerce Association.

E-commerce increases businesses’ ability to contact customers, advertise products, reduce management cost and obtain higher revenue. Businesses today tend to broadcast their brand names and products via search engines and social networks, Linh added.

However, there are still obstacles in e-commerce application. In the past the problems were regulations and logistics, now they are security and safety.
Consequently, the Ministry will ask the Government to approve and promulgate a new decree on e-commerce in 2013.

Up to 97.3 percent of firms in HCM City have built their own websites (up 5.7 percent from 2011). Transactions and advertisements have been made via email and websites, said Ha Ngoc Son, Deputy Head of the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade’s Technology-Safety-Environment Office.

Vietnamese businesses now deeply apply e-commerce in their operations (up 12 percent from 2011). However, customer confidence and online purchases fell sharply (down 16 percent from 2011) due to some recent online trade frauds.

HCM City tops the list of the 2012 e-commerce index as announced by the Vietnam E-Commerce Association

At the forum, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Tuan Anh awarded certificates of merit to organisations and individuals actively contributing to the development of e-commerce.-VNA