The number of customers making payments with ewallets remained limited, at 17% of Vietnamese shoppers in 2018 - PHOTO: TNO

According to the Ecommerce White Book 2019 recently launched by the Vietnam Ecommerce and Digital Economy Agency, cash payments still dominated other methods. Some 90% of online buyers made their payments in cash rather than with ATM cards, credit cards or ewallets.

A survey by the agency found that the number of customers making payments with ewallets remained limited, at 17% of Vietnamese shoppers in 2018.

Meanwhile, up to 88% of payments for online shopping were made in cash last year.

Payments using ATM cards fell to 42% in 2018 from 48% in 2017, whereas payments with credit or debit cards grew by 31% last year versus 19% in 2017.

Many experts had earlier forecast that online shoppers would continue to pay in cash out of habit.

However, the value of purchases made online increased in 2018. The number of items sold at a cost of VND3-5 million picked up from 20% in 2017 to 22% last year, whereas expenditures of over VND5 million soared to 35% in 2018 from 24% in 2017.

Statistics from the White Book 2019 also indicated that among online shopping channels, customers enjoyed shopping on ecommerce websites, making up 74% in 2018.

Last year, Vietnam saw business-to-consumer (B2C) online transactions valued at US$8.06 billion, soaring 30% year-on-year.

The number of online shoppers was 39.9 million in 2018, with the online expenditures of each amounting to an estimated US$202, up US$16 against 2017. SGT

Chi Thinh

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