VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM) has projected the nation’s online retail sales would amount to US$10 billion by 2020, accounting for 5% of total retail revenue.  

E-commerce has steadily grown over the past years, with online sales reaching US$4 billion last year.

Nguyen Thanh Hung, vice chairman and general secretary of VECOM, said the e-commerce sector was in its infancy in 2006-2015. The sector now has more favorable conditions in terms of human resources, technology and legal framework to enter the next stage of development.

Hung said the e-commerce sector is expected to expand by over 30% annually from 2016 to 2020 and probably 2025. Hung quoted a study by Ken Research as saying that online retail sales in Vietnam would rise to US$7.5 billion by 2019.

Based on a 2016-2020 master zoning plan for the sector sent to the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, VECOM predicted online retail sales would total US$10 billion by 2020.

The association said the Government plays a pivotal role in the development of e-commerce and should issue proper policies to boost manpower, e-payment and tax collections from individuals and cross-border online transactions.

According to VECOM, more transactions and business models will lead to an upsurge in disputes. Management and market monitoring agencies, associations for consumer protection, arbitration organizations and courts should enhance their capacity of building and executing regulations.    

VECOM and businesses said to fuel growth in the e-commerce sector, relevant agencies and firms must join hands to support the sector in other localities in addition to Hanoi and HCMC. These two biggest cities of the nation took the lead in the Vietnam E-commerce Index 2015.

Tran Trong Tuyen, chief executive officer of DKT Technology JSC, said Hanoi and HCMC hold 75% market share and that e-commerce will grow by three to five times in the coming years if it develops well in other localities. Online sales of retail firms will jump accordingly.

DKT Technology has the online shopping platform bizweb.vn for around 15,000 companies in Vietnam.   

Tuyen said half of over 90 million Vietnamese use the Internet, so Vietnam holds huge growth potential.

He said DKT Technology has plans to back e-commerce growth in other localities by supporting around 100 businesses in each locality to efficiently apply e-commerce on bizweb.vn.

Van Ly

SGT