Joint support needed for sustainable e-commerce development: insider

Consumers seek books on an e-commerce website (Photo: VNA)

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, VECOM Vice President Nguyen Ngoc Dung told the Dien dan Doanh nghiep (Business Forum) magazine.

He assessed e-commerce in these localities, especially rural and remote areas, as very modest while more than 70 percent of the population are living in the countryside.

Given this, Dung stressed that although there remains much room for growth, e-commerce still needs joint support from local authorities, agencies, people, business households, and enterprises to develop healthily and sustainably.

In May 2020, the Prime Minister signed off a master plan on e-commerce development for 2021 - 2025 which also aims for e-commerce to be promoted across the country.

This plan targets that by 2025, provincial-level localities other than Hanoi and HCM City will account for 50 percent of the total B2C (business-to-consumer) e-commerce transaction value, and 50 percent of the localities nationwide will have goods sellers or service suppliers online./.

VNA