VietNamNet Bridge - As the value of the e-commerce market is expected to increase from $2 billion in 2013 to $4 billion in 2015, hundreds of forwarding agents have been established recently.

In 2012, anticipating the strong development of the e-commerce market in Vietnam, “17 Phut” (17 Minute), a forwarding agent, was set up by the young boss Nguyen Hoang Duy.

Duy, who was an online seller, understood that the big barrier in e-commerce was in the payment method. 

Therefore, he decided to apply a sales policy advantageous to manufacturers and consumers. 17 Phut paid cash to sellers on delivery and collected money from buyers later.

This meant that 17 Phut could have revenue only if online transactions succeeded. Sellers could be sure they could get paid for their goods. 

However, 17 Phut did not exist for a long time, despite the great advantages offered to clients. Its revenue then was just high enough for the young boss’s coffee. Duy dissolved the agent.

However, he later decided to start business from the very beginning. And he has succeeded. Duy now employs eight workers who fulfill over 200 orders a day, and each of them receives VND7 million a month on average.

“At present, 17 Phut just serves one part per million of the market’s demand,” Duy said.

He said that forwarding agents have been developing very rapidly and competing fiercely with each other.

Giaohangnhanh.vn is one of the most fleet-footed in the field. In order to fulfill 12,000-14,000 orders a day to serve 2,000 clients, giaohangnhanh.vn has developed a large network in 200 cities and districts. With the successful business performance, the agent plans to reach out to 400 districts nationwide by June 2015.

Giaohangnhanh started with just seven workers some years ago, when it was set up. It now employs over 1,000 workers. The agent’s boss said his delivery staff comprises 30 technology engineers, who drive the great competitiveness of the company.

He said the forwarding market needs to be organized in a way to specialize services, i.e., every business focuses on its key services. 

Forwarding agents need to follow Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to ensure that all the links of the service chain can be implemented in the most effective way.

Analysts believe the domestic e-commerce comprehensive logistics service chains will take shape in two or three years, with the participation of big firms in the market.

The rapidly growing e-commerce market has prompted more and more businesses to jump on the bandwagon.

Alexandre Dardy, CEO of Lazada Vietnam, cited a report as saying that 42 million Vietnamese now can access the internet, which allows people to do more work online, including shopping.

NCDT