VietNamNet Bridge – As the land has become as expensive as gold,” petty merchants now tend to occupy retail premises on… Internet. More and more shops have appeared on websites, leased kiosks to social networks.

Nguyen Ngoc Dung from Vecom, an e-commerce association, has noted that the sale of goods via Internet has boomed, though there have been no official statistics about the scale of the trade and the turnover. The noteworthy thing is that the businessmen are all the outlaws, because they have no operation licenses and don’t pay tax to the state.

The “petty merchants on Internet”

Three years ago, Nguyen Thuy Anh, who then an office worker, opened a restaurant at No. 143 Nghi Tam Street in Hanoi. Realizing the high demand from customers, Anh then provided the service of delivering food at doors.

At first, Thuy Anh set an address on Facebook, then introduced her services on muare.vn. The food has been delivered at customers’ homes free or charge, if they are in the districts of Tay Ho, Ba Dinh, Hoan Kiem and Dong Da. Meanwhile, the free delivery would be only provided to the clients in other districts, if their bills are worth more than VND200,000.

“We have some 20 orders a day,” Anh said.

T Hanh in district 4 in HCM City, said she has 5,000 members on Facebook, who are the loyal clients for May, her fashion brand.

The clothes for sale are all designed and made by her. At first, Hanh sold clothes just for fund. Later, realizing the high demand, Hanh decided to expand her business. In mid June 2013, Hanh and a friend opened one more “offline shop” in Hanoi.

Thuy Han in district 5 in HCM City became a petty merchant on Internet because…she had good experiences in making Japanese styled dishes and cakes. At first, Han just tried to share her experience on making cakes with the friends on Facebook, who then asked Han teach them how to make the cakes and buy some tools for them.

Later, as the number of the “fans” increased rapidly, Han decided to trade the materials and the tools for making cakes. To date, 144 product items have been available on her Facebook page.

In April 2013, SP in district 4, HCM City, leased dacsanviet98.chiliweb.org, a kiosk on Internet, to buy local specialties, from bee honey to tea, garlic, and cashew nuts. She said her clients are the 200 Facebook friends, the customers who seek to purchase food specialties, and the neighbors as well.

SP said she is not too busy with the work. She just has to check the goods supply every day, takes orders and tells workers to make deliveries.

The outlaws

When asked about the income, SP said that since the business has just started, the revenue is just enough to pay for 5 delivery workers and for herself. She has been satisfactory with the business, partially because she can sell goods for profit, while she does not have to pay for retail premises and pay tax.

Meanwhile, T. Hanh said she can pocket VND30 million a month after paying workers and cover expenses.

The Internet merchants still have not been asked to pay tax, because there is no legal framework to manage the business on social networks. However, they have been doing business in the fear that they may be accused of evading tax one day.

SGTT