Vietnam e-commerce is predicted to have value of $10 billion by 2022

Vietnam ecommerce, predicted to have value of $10 billion by 2022, is a gold mine for foreign investors. 

SBI Holdings from Japan and some Asia-based companies have poured $51 million more into Sendo. 

Two big retail groups from South Korea and Japan are investing in their own websites Lotte.vn and Aeoneshop.com. And Central Group from Thailand has taken over Zalor Vietnam and changed its name into Robins.vn in 2017.

However, Chinese firms dominate the market.

Alibaba was the first Chinese player present in Vietnam after taking over Lazada Southeast Asia in April 2016. It has appointed Zhang YiXing of China to the post of Lazada Vietnam’s CEO to replace the French CEO.

JD.com, the biggest rival of Alibaba in China, is also confronting Alibaba in Vietnam when investing $44 million in Tiki in late 2017.

Shopee, backed by Garena, where Tencent, the Chinese technology giant, holds 40 percent of shares, cemented its position in Vietnam after it joined the market in August 2016.

An analyst commented not only Vietnam, but entire Southeast Asia has become the playing field for three Chinese giants – Alibaba, Tencent and JD. Lazada and Shopee are among top players in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. JD has also invested in Indonesia and Thailand to access the 600 million people market.

The presence of powerful Chinese e-commerce conglomerates in Vietnam has sparked concern that Chinese products will hold the advantage over Vietnamese ones in the online shopping market. It is highly possible that Chinese e-commerce websites will prioritize selling Chinese products through online distribution networks they own.

Chinese products are a threat to Vietnamese goods due to their low prices and diversification. With support from online shopping networks, Chinese products will also have more opportunities in the Vietnamese market.

Ownership of leading e-commerce websites in Vietnam will also bring advantages to Chinese firms in the mobile payment competition.

In order to attract more clients, besides promotion campaigns, mobile payment apps need to have networks of partners. And e-commerce floors can be answer to the problem. 

In November 2017, Alipay, the mobile payment platform of Alibaba, signed a cooperation agreement with NAPAS, the national payment corporation, which was the first step to pave the way for Alipay’s official presence in Vietnam.

With 30 million hits per month, Lazada will bring a great advantage to Alipay once the app is integrated into Lazada’s payment system.

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