Decision Lab and Mobile Marketing Association Vietnam (MMA) have made public ‘The Connected Consumer Q1 2023’, the quarterly study which reflects consumers’ online habits, including use of social media, entertainment services (music, films and online videos) and online shopping.

Decision Lab also provides important information about the development of the Vietnamese e-wallet market. MoMo is still leading the market with the penetration rate of 68 percent.

MoMo now uses 2,000 workers with its head office located in HCM City and offices in Hanoi and Da Nang. It is following the trend of developing super apps. With tens of millions of users, MoMo is also one of a few Vietnamese startups named in the list of unicorns (the technological startups with the value of over $1 billion).

The No2 in terms of penetration rate belongs to ZaloPay (53 percent), while the third position belongs to another Vietnam’s fintech – Viettel Pay (27 percent). The next three positions have been reserved for ShopeePay (Airpay, 25 percent), VNPay (16 percent) and Moca (7 percent).

The report also pointed out that MoMo is the favorite fintech company with 48 percent, or 2 percentage points higher than the fourth quarter in 2022. The e-wallet holds its appeal to all three generations X, Y and Z. Particularly, the startup is favored by 50 percent of Gen Z (16-25 years old) and Y (26-41 years old).

Prior to that, the report ‘Payments 2025 and beyond: Evolution to revolution’ by PricewaterhouseCoopers showed that 85 percent of surveyed people used at least one e-wallet or payment app, and 71 percent of them used the apps at least once a week. 

With 40 e-wallet service providers, the Vietnamese market is described as a ‘tight shirt’. The three leading e-wallets hold 90 percent of market share and there is no more room for other service providers. 

Experts said that non-cash payment methods in Vietnam will develop strongly in the next few years, and Mobile Money, together with e-wallets will be the key services that help popularize non-cash payments to all Vietnamese people.

E-wallet is among the most popular e-payment modes at this moment. About 40 banks have joined them to provide the services, helping users connect e-wallets and bank accounts. In general, the payment costs for transactions via e-wallets are very low, or free of charge.

Trong Dat