The total number of visits to online shopping apps in Vietnam reached 12.7 billion in the first six months of the year, the highest ever figure.

After Tiki and Sendo complete their merger, the e-commerce market will be controlled by three big players – Tiki-Sendo, Lazada and Shopee.

The merger will make the race in the e-commerce market more exciting.

The e-commerce market is expected to witness competition between Tiki-Sendo, Shopee and Lazada, after Tiki and Sendo join under the same roof, slated for this year.

The coronavirus pandemic has changed consumer shopping behaviour, prompting retailers to embrace online commerce to keep up with new trends.

The e-commerce market is looking at two high-calibre developments with the merger of Tiki and Sendo and the entry of heavyweight competitor Facebook. 

Just a few days ago, Tiki and Sendo struck a hundred-million dollar deal that could redraw the landscape of the entire e-commerce industry,

Following the hottest M&A retail deal of Vingroup and Masan in early 2020, the merger of Tiki and Sendo is expected to make the competition in e-commerce industry fiercer.

The "money burning" race in the local e-commerce scene is not over yet, with all Big Four competitors scampering to gain a larger market share.

Three out of four of the largest e-commerce sites saw the numbers of visits decreasing in Q1, a time when experts predicted would see a boom as the COVID-19 epidemic reached its peak.

Because of the pandemic, people have hesitated to go to crowded places and have increasingly bought many items online.

Offline shops have become deserted as people are staying at home to prevent the spread of coronavirus. As a result, online shopping activities have become busier.

As Vietnamese are now favoring ‘contactless purchases’ in Covid-19, online sales have increased rapidly.

While Amazon has had to recruit 100,000 more workers to satisfy orders, at Vietnam’s marketplaces, purchases remain weak except for face masks and hand sanitizers.

Shopee and Lazada have successfully controlled most of the Southeast Asian market. But in Vietnam, Tiki, Sendo and The Gioi Di Dong are preventing them from doing so.

E-commerce and fintechs accounted for four-fifths of the total number of big calls for capital in 2019. The biggest deal was worth $300 million.

If Tiki and Sendo successfully carry out the merger, the Vietnamese e-commerce market will be the playing field for three major players. Two of them, Lazada and Shopee, are foreign invested.

Sellers hiking the prices of face masks and hand sanitiser on some e-commerce websites have been fined.

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