A recent survey of 105 websites by the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s e-commerce and information technology department found that 89 percent of those portals sell products and the rest, services.
Most of them are based in HCM City (44 percent) or Hanoi (40 percent), with 97 percent belonging to companies. Two percent are foreign-owned and one percent, State-owned.
Thirteen percent do business both in the international and domestic markets, eight percent focus on a single province and three percent focus completely on foreign markets.
Around 62 percent are on social networks, with Facebook alone accounting for 70 percent.
Computers, smart phones, electronic and digital products and office equipment are the most popular items bought online, accounting for 23 percent. Fashion products and accessories also account for 23 percent. They are followed by real estate (12 percent), household appliances (10 percent) and accommodation and tourism (8 percent).
Some of the most popular websites are pico.vn, lazada.vn, hc.com.vn, esale.zing.vn, nguyenkim.com, thegioididong.com and dienmaycholon.vn.
Seventy six percent of websites said customers come back for a second time. Over half the websites that took part in the survey said their major source of revenue is advertising while 23 percent collect fees on orders and 12 - 18 percent collect other fees like membership.
Despite the strong growth last year, e-commerce websites face operational challenges. For instance, around 31 percent of them suffer from a lack of quality human resources, not surprising considering there are around 200,000 websites and they each need at least one IT expert to manage them.
According to vietnamworks.com, demand for internet/online media professionals has surged in recent years.
Additionally, 25 percent of websites believe that customers who do not trust the quality of products sold online or who worry about paying online would hinder the industry’s development, while 22 percent believe shipping costs are still too high and 20 percent complain about unhealthy competition among e-commerce websites.
E-payment yet to grow strongly, but still promising
Althought e-commerce sales of these website rise rapidl, e-payment has not been on par with its potential.
Mr. Le Duc Anh, a specialist from the E-Commerce and Information Technology Agency, said despite the growing use of payment cards, the online payment rate is still low. For example, there were more than 800,000 orders worth 600 billion VND (26.9 million USD) on the recent Online Shopping Day. However, only more than 3 percent of them were paid online, he said. He attributed that fact to consumers’ concern about the quality of goods they pay beforehand.
Specialists forecast e-payment will grow rapidly in the near future thanks to the increasing number of mobile phone and internet users, and constantly improved technological infrastructure.
The Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Mr. Do Thang Hai said e-commerce is attracting great interest from businesses and consumers. Relevant applications have appeared nationwide, not only in big cities.
Sharing the same view, Mr. Le Duc Anh said his e-commerce agency sees businesses’ high demand for a healthy and sustainably developed e-commerce market. Meantime, consumers want their interests to be guaranteed while making online transactions.
Simultaneously developing e-payment and ensuring the safety of transactions is a focal task. To do so, it is important to fine-tune legal regulations to facilitate e-commerce, Mr. Phan The Thang from the trade ministry’s Vietnam Competition Authority noted.