A frequent buyer of diapers and household products on e-commerce platforms, Nguyen Thi Thanh from Hoang Mai, Hanoi, said she has spent years hunting for discounts during late-night sales and major promotional campaigns to save money.

According to Thanh, consumers seeking the best prices online often have to track promotions, collect discount codes, monitor flash-sale schedules and compare prices across multiple stores. During major sales events, she sometimes stayed up until midnight to secure vouchers or place orders as soon as promotions began to maximize savings.

Recently, however, several sellers have informed her that prices may be adjusted because platform-related costs have increased.

"If prices on e-commerce platforms are no longer significantly lower than those outside, I won't need to stay up late for sales, search for discount codes or wait for major promotional events," Thanh said.

As platforms continue to raise fees and sellers begin adjusting prices, the price gap between online products and goods sold in traditional stores is shrinking. Thanh believes the effort required to hunt for promotions may no longer deliver the same benefits as before.

The long-standing perception of "going online to buy cheap goods" is gradually shifting. As selling costs on e-commerce platforms continue to mount, many merchants have adjusted their retail prices or cut back on promotional campaigns.

Nguyen Thi Nga, the owner of an online cosmetics store, stated that previously, the total cost of selling on platforms only fluctuated around 10 to 15 percent of order revenue. Following multiple adjustments, this ratio has increased significantly.

According to Nga, many major promotional waves generate a high volume of orders, but when reconciling data at the end of the month, she realizes that the vast majority of revenue is spent covering platform fees, advertisements, and shipping subsidies.

She said that previously, the profit margin on each product sold reached about 15 to 20 percent. However, when aggregating all expenses from platform commissions, advertising, packaging, and returns, the actual profit margin is much lower. Without adjusting retail prices, sustaining business operations would face severe difficulties.

The low-price advantage is fading

According to many sellers on major platforms such as Shopee and TikTok Shop, total selling costs now range from 21.8 percent to 33.8 percent of order revenue, including fixed fees, transaction fees, payment processing fees and seller-support programs.

When advertising expenses, labor costs, packaging and return rates are added, actual costs can reach 40-50 percent of product value in highly competitive categories. Sellers must also comply with new requirements regarding taxes, invoicing and identity verification in e-commerce activities.

Rising costs are prompting many merchants to consider increasing prices by 3-5 percent or reducing promotional offers. Shop owners say this could directly affect consumers, as product prices on e-commerce platforms may no longer differ significantly from those at supermarkets or traditional retail stores.

To maintain competitive pricing, Nga is expanding sales through Facebook, Zalo and several emerging e-commerce platforms. She is allocating additional budget to develop her fan page, build customer communities on Zalo and run advertisements to attract customers to her own sales channels. Her goal is to increase the share of direct orders and reduce intermediary costs.

Although acquiring new customers outside of major marketplaces demands more time and resources, it conversely allows her to manage customer data and limit the impact of policy changes handed down by the platforms.

Tran Quoc Dat, a food business owner, has similarly expanded his commercial operations to Facebook and marketplace groups across social media networks.

According to Dat, the general trend is for sellers to leverage e-commerce platforms as an acquisition channel to secure new customers, before building their own captive database through customer care programs and direct sales. This methodology helps boost customer retention rates while driving down selling and advertising costs over the long run.

Recently, the National Competition Commission (Ministry of Industry and Trade) stated that it has requested Shopee to review the basis of its formulation and evaluate the market impacts of newly implemented fee policies.

Nguyen Le