Pine Kyaw, CEO of Shopee Vietnam, said last year that m-commerce would become more popular because smartphones now have larger screens and security solutions are more reliable.

Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest have added ‘like’ and ‘buy’ buttons in an effort to encourage people to do more shopping. People have realized they spend more time on smartphones and are familiar with ‘touch to see’ and ‘touch to buy’ operations. 

However, Vietnamese businesses are still reluctant to invest in m-commerce.

The E-commerce Index Report 2018 of the Vietnam E-commerce Association (Vecom) showed that of the businesses which have mobile websites or mobile apps, 42 percent allowed buyers to conduct all stages of the shopping process on mobile devices, and 29 percent ran promotion programs specifically applied to those who bought goods with mobile devices.

The figures of 2017, according to Vecom, are nearly the same as 2016. This means that m-commerce development has slowed down with the unchanged number of websites compatible with mobile devices, accounting for 17 percent of surveyed businesses, or 2 percent lower than 2016 and 9 percent lower than 2015.

Explaining this, Vecom said that many e-commerce firms still cannot find benefits from m-commerce, and that the demand for shopping on mobile platforms is seen only in Hanoi and HCMC.

iPrice reported that Vietnam’s e-commerce firms have the highest proportion of e-commerce website visits converted to orders in Southeast Asia – 65 percent. However, the conversion proportion on desktop computers is 1.7 times higher than mobile devices.

However, Vecom’s deputy chair Nguyen Ngoc Dung have advised businesses to update with the latest m-commerce trends to keep their competitive edge.

If businesses spend money to develop m-commerce, their e-commerce websites or e-commerce trading floors will be better to access customers, thus helping improve competitiveness.

If not, they will lose a high number of potential customers, who have the habit of accessing internet from tablets and smartphones.

Tran Trong Tuyen, CEO of Sapo, a company which owns an omni-channel sale and management platform, said many businesses lose sales because they do not pay enough attention to improving customers’ shopping experiences.

iPrice’s reports about the ranking of Vietnam’s leading e-commerce firms show that investment in m-commerce has brought certain effects.

Shopee, The Gioi Di Dong (Mobile World), Lazada, Tiki and Sendo, which have invested in m-commerce channels, have high rankings. Shopee, for example, ranks first in iOS and Android app stores, followed by Lazada and Sendo.

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