VietNamNet Bridge – Internet users tend to use their mobile devices instead of desktop computers, but Vietnamese company websites have not been optimized to meet customer demand.

A report from BMI (Business Monitor International) shows there are 36 million internet users in Vietnam, 27 million 3G subscribers, 20 million Facebookers, and 134 million mobile subscribers. There is also free wi-fi in many public places, making Vietnam a great market for mobile devices and mobile apps.

Thirty-six percent of Vietnamese own smartphones, according to Google and TNS’s 2014 survey on consumer behavior. The proportion soared from 20 percent to 36 percent within one year.  

A survey by Nielsen showed that 58 percent of Vietnamese smartphone users often use the device to make online purchases. Vietnam ranks third in Southeast Asia in the proportion of consumers shopping online, after the Philippines and Indonesia.

Tran Hai Linh, general director of Sendo.vn, an e-commerce website, noted that half of Sendo’s customers tend to access to Sendo.vn from their mobile devices. The proportion is 30-50 percent in the world, while some e-commerce services are designed specifically for mobile devices.

An expert noted that many websites designed for computers in the past are not compatible with modern mobile devices. As a result, errors occur regularly when accessing websites from mobile devices.

Since the speed of mobile devices is lower than computers, users would have to wait too long to download websites.

Vietnamese businesses, though understanding the problem, still hesitate to spend money to design mobile site versions.

A report from the Vietnam E-commerce Association showed that the number of mobile site versions in Vietnam accounts for only 10 percent of the total operational sites, while the majority of the 10 percent are owned by online trading businesses.

Nguyen Ngoc Dung, chief representative of the association’s northern office, said online trading businesses tend to pioneer the latest technologies, while other businesses do not think they need to have mobile sites now.

Many businesses are not ready for the new circumstances if access from mobile devices increases rapidly.

However, Dung said that it was not technologically difficult to build and run mobile sites.

There are two options for businesses, either setting up a specific version for mobile devices, or setting up websites with interfaces adaptable to different access devices.

Dung noted that many businesses have been following a “mobile first” strategy, which means they prioritize to develop mobile websites.

Regarding e-commerce security, technology experts advise businesses to use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) and HTTPS Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. This would not be too costly for businesses, while customers would feel more secure when accessing websites with HTTPS protocol.

TBKTSG