Vietnam’s e-commerce market is projected to grow 16.3 percent from 9.4 billion USD last year to 17.3 billion USD in 2023, according to GlobalData.

Singapore-based Business Times on March 10 cited a GlobalData report saying Vietnam’s e-commerce market has doubled over the past five years, with total online spending expanding from 3.9 billion USD in 2015 to 9.4 billion USD in 2019.

“While the traditional payment instruments such as cash, cards and bank transfers are widely used for e-commerce purchases, consumer preference for alternative payments is on the rise,” said Nikhil Reddy, a banking and payments analyst at GlobalData. “There is a growing demand for faster and convenient payment means, especially among tech-savvy millennials.”

According to a GlobalData survey, cash is still the most preferred payment mode, making up 35.6 percent of e-commerce purchases. Alternative payment solutions are gradually gaining ground, accounting for 15.5 percent. MoMo is the most preferred alternative payment in Vietnam, followed by PayPal.

Meanwhile, global firms are investing in Vietnamese e-commerce companies, looking to ride on the strong growth.

In 2018, Tiki received 5.3 million USD and 44. million USD funding from VNG Corporation and Chinese investor JD.com, respectively. In the same year, Sendo secured 51 million USD from SBI Group (a Japan-based financial services company) and other investors. Furthermore, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba invested an additional 2 billion USD in Lazada, one of the leading e-commerce companies in the country./.

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