VietNamNet Bridge – In principle, e-commerce is a way of purchasing and selling goods via Internet. . But in Vietnam, they still have to meet face to face to wrap up transactions.

Dau tu newspaper quoted Nguyen Ngoc Diep, General Director of Vat Gia Joint Stock Company as saying that in the next three years, the number of Internet users in Vietnam will increase to 40 million, which means a huge potential market for e-commerce development.

Diep said even though the total value of e-commerce transactions accounts for only 0.4 percent of the total domestic consumption value, but the figure is expected to rise to 2-4 percent.

The estimate are based on the development of vatgia.com in the last period. According to Diep, the value of online transactions on vatgia.com has been increasing steadily by 5-7 percent per month, while the total transaction value is about $12 million per month.

However, according to Diep, the so called “e-commerce” in Vietnam has only just entered the first stage of development, because sellers and buyers still have to meet in person to complete transactions. After sellers place online orders, distributors have to send staff to deliver the products to the buyers and receive the payment.
This is because in Vietnam they do not have any basis to trust each other. “The features of the e-commerce websites are really simple, while the safety remains low,” said Diep.

Meanwhile, according to Nguyen Hoang Hai, Head of the Nguyen Hoang Hai & Associates Law Office, the existing e-commerce websites do not have procedures to settle disputes.

According to the E-commerce and Information Technology Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, up to 96 percent of the total 50 operational e-commerce websites surveyed by the department do not have such procedures. Only 12 percent of websites declare they follow the policies on personal information protection. Six percent of the websites allow customers to choose either to provide or not to provide personal information. Meanwhile, in principle, in order to be eligible for making online transactions, clients must declare personal information, including the telephone number, address, identity card number and credit card number.
This also means that there is a high risk that personal information can be leaked when customers make online transactions.

Vu Thi Bach Nga, Head of the Customer Protection Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade has advised consumers to read carefully the provisions set by e-commerce websites on the purchase policies, payment and shipment. Customers have also been advised not to answer any emails that request personal or financial information.

In order to protect the interests of customers and encourage the development of e-commerce in Vietnam, the Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to issue a legal document on managing the operation of e-commerce websites. Under the draft document, the websites will have their specific logos and the names of the websites will be made public on the information portal of the ministry.

Under the plan compiled by the Ministry, by 2015, all businesses would be using email for all transactions.

Duong Hoang Minh, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's E-Commerce and IT Department, said that 80 percent of corporations would have websites regularly updated to advertise their products and services by 2015.

In addition, 70 percent of large and 30 percent of small- and medium-sized companies would have e-commerce websites to purchase and sell commodities and services.

C. V