The development of digital technology has impacted the wholesale and retail industry in Vietnam. In this context, supporting digital transformation is an inevitable trend that cannot be delayed.
Wholesale and retail growth is strong
Speaking at the Industry and Trade Digital Transformation Forum, held on the morning of November 21, in Hanoi, Mr. Tran Minh Tuan - Director of the Department of Digital Economy and Digital Society (Ministry of Information and Communications) - emphasized: Wholesale and retail play a major role in the supply chain, supporting the circulation of goods from production to consumption, creating jobs and contributing to economic development.
Mr. Tuan cited that on average, a Vietnamese consumer buys online up to 4 times/month. With a market of 100 million people, accounting for 1.23% of the world's population, and located next to large markets such as China, India, ASEAN..., it shows that Vietnam's potential for e-commerce development is still very large.
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| Supporting digital transformation for the wholesale and retail sector is essential. Photo: MP |
According to statistics, Vietnam currently has 1.4 million grocery stores, 9,000 traditional markets, 54,008 retail businesses and 208,995 wholesale businesses. Of these, grocery stores, traditional markets and retail businesses account for 3.91% of net production and business revenue and 3.19% of total labor; while the revenue of 208,995 wholesale businesses accounts for about 27.60% and about 8.76% of total labor working in the wholesale sector.
This shows the importance of wholesale and retail in economic development and job creation for workers. Therefore, supporting the digital transformation of wholesale and retail cannot be delayed and must be accelerated in the direction of bringing all wholesale activities, businesses, grocery stores, and retail stores from the real environment to the digital environment to reach customers on many different digital channels, bringing higher value and efficiency.
Sharing the same opinion on this issue, many economic experts agree that digital transformation in the retail industry is rapidly changing the way consumers shop. Online shopping, online payment and trading essential goods on e-commerce platforms have gradually become familiar tasks in modern life.
This reality is taking place strongly in many localities across the country. For example, in Vinh Phuc, in 2023, the province's retail e-commerce sales reached 543.2 billion VND, an increase of 2.7% compared to 2022; the average shopping value of online shoppers was 1.74 million VND; more than 3,000 merchants had e-commerce transactions... The development of e-commerce as well as the digitalization process at wholesale and retail units have made important contributions to the growth of the trade and service sector in Vinh Phuc province.
It is necessary to support retail stores in digital transformation.
Based on international experience and practices in Vietnam, the Ministry of Information and Communications has approved the Program to support retail stores in digital transformation.
The program's objectives are: Select and mobilize excellent digital platforms to participate, with preferential policies, support for businesses, stores, and business households; 100% of businesses, stores, and retail businesses nationwide have access to, participate in surveys, and evaluate the level of digital transformation; 100% of businesses, stores, and retail businesses that have participated in surveys and evaluate the level of digital transformation nationwide have experienced digital platforms for digital transformation; create and update a database on digital transformation of businesses, stores, and retail businesses nationwide.
Supported subjects are enterprises, stores, wholesale and retail business households nationwide; digital platform enterprises, agencies, organizations, associations, institutes, schools with digital technologies, digital platforms and solutions to support and promote digital transformation activities of enterprises, stores, wholesale and retail business households.
To achieve the goal, in September 2024, the Ministry of Information and Communications selected Phu Nhuan District (Ho Chi Minh City) as the pilot location for the main activities of the program before summarizing and popularizing it throughout the city and the country. Within 1 month (from September to October 2024), the program conducted a survey of 2,154 units; including 1,078 enterprises, 1,020 business households, 56 retail stores, focusing on business households and small businesses.
Mr. Tran Minh Tuan added that, through monitoring the implementation progress, the 5 information technology solutions that businesses, stores, and wholesale businesses use the most to apply to business operations are: Electronic invoice/payment management system; sales management system; purchasing management system; inventory management system; labor (or human resources) management system. The 3 information technology solutions that are used the most to apply to business operations are: Social networks; e-commerce platforms; self-payment solutions (or cashless payments).
“ In the early stages, coordination was slow, mainly relying on local resources; there was a lack of initiative from the platform businesses. However, in the later stages, there was improvement when businesses participated in direct surveys, but many stores were still skeptical and did not want to share information ,” Mr. Tuan commented.
According to Mr. Tuan, the reason for this situation is the lack of close coordination between businesses and stores that have not participated deeply in the survey and evaluation process; inappropriate approach methods, such as direct consultation calls causing many doubts; lack of information and transparency, because the survey subjects do not clearly understand the purpose and benefits of the program.
To solve the above problems, platform enterprises should participate right from the survey and assessment stage to collect better quality data; increase the connection between management at all levels and local businesses and stores. In addition, it is necessary to change the approach by organizing direct consultation and support at the local level, for example, setting up support booths in areas with many target audiences...; mobilize participation from local organizations, positions that regularly work in the area (neighborhood leaders, associations...).
Emphasizing the need for digital transformation, experts analyzed that the scale of Vietnam's wholesale and retail market is not small, the potential and room for e-commerce development is huge; while the characteristic of e-commerce is that it has no boundaries, so if localities and units operating in the wholesale and retail sector do not transform, they will lose their "front" and market.
| It is expected that in the fourth quarter of 2024, the Ministry of Information and Communications will summarize the pilot program to support digital transformation of retail stores in Phu Nhuan district to gain experience. In the first quarter of 2025, it will be expanded to the entire Ho Chi Minh City. According to the roadmap, it will be expanded nationwide in 2025. In 2026 and the following years, the impact will be assessed, periodically updated and surveyed. |
Source: https://congthuong.vn/ho-tro-chuyen-doi-so-linh-vuc-ban-buon-ban-le-nang-suc-canh-tranh-cho-nen-kinh-te-360056.html
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