Some 3,000 businesses will take part in Online Friday 2016, the year’s largest e-commerce event, to be held on December 2, the first Friday of the month.

The businesses include e-commerce firms such as Lazada, Adayro, Tiki and Sendo, as well as Hotdeal and Zalora, besides online travel companies, delivery businesses, start-ups, banks and payment service providers, according to the Vietnam E-Commerce and Information Technology Agency (VECITA).

In addition to electronic device producers and official importers (Samsung, Intel, Asus and Oppo, as well as Maison JSC and Hoang Phuc International), Omni-channel retailers (The gioi di dong, Nguyen Kim, HC and Pico, as well as Mediamart and Tran Anh) will also join the event.

They are all expected to offer their best products and services at reduced prices.

They are set to offer 200,000 products at discounted prices, expecting a total revenue of over VND1 trillion (US$44.8 million).

The online shopping day is the highlight of a series of related events that include both online and offline activities, such as the autumn online shopping day on September 30, an e-commerce forum in November and a BigOFF event from December 1 to 3.

The BigOFF event will be the first of its kind in Viet Nam on this occasion. It will take place in the pedestrian streets around Guom (Sword) Lake in the centre of the city. Nearly 30 reputable businesses will participate in this event, with many promotional programmes being run. The event is expected to attract 30,000 local residents.

Besides programmes such as free shipments, discount, promotions during golden hours and gifts, there will also be opportunities for customers to compare and evaluate the promotional programmes of the businesses.

Online Friday is aimed at raising people’s awareness of online shopping and boosting community engagement in the sector, creating opportunities for customers to use high-quality products at promotional rates.

The event is the third of its kind in Viet Nam.

In December 2014, it attracted 1,000 businesses as participants. Some 160,000 orders, worth VND154 billion, were transacted, 3.2 times and 2.5 times higher than that of a regular day, respectively.

The best-selling products were in the categories of technology, fashion and home appliances, occupying 80 per cent of the total orders.

In 2015, the event lured some 2,000 businesses, with 63,000 products sold, earning the total revenue of VND500 billion, three times higher than that of 2014.

E-commerce is now attractive to both enterprises and consumers in Viet Nam. With a young population, Viet Nam ranks sixth in Asia and 17th in the world in terms of the growth rate of Internet users, who comprise 48 per cent of its population, according to VECITA. — VNS