Since the full moon of December, Thu Ha (Hoai Duc district, Hanoi) said she has been surfing the app to order decorations, gift baskets, nuts, beef jerky, and pork jerky to prepare for Tet At Ty 2025. "Apart from meat, vegetables, and fresh flowers that need to be bought directly for the atmosphere, I buy everything else online," she said.
Even the 800,000 VND ao dai she wore for Tet, Ms. Ha also bought online, contributing to the nearly 190 billion VND in sales of ao dai sold through Shopee and TikTok Shop in the month up to January 19, according to e-commerce data Metric.
Previously, in the fourth quarter of 2024, 8 million Ao Dai, 2 million Tet gift baskets and 2 million orders of lucky money envelopes were sold on Shopee. TikTok Shop said that 100,000 hours of livestreaming attracted 2.9 billion views during the Tet shopping program in the first half of January.
The two biggest sessions alone, led by influencers Hang Du Muc and Pham Thoai, set a record of closing 400,000 orders. "Shopping for Tet on e-commerce has become a natural part of the habits of many Vietnamese consumers," said Ms. Nguyen Ngo, Marketing Manager of TikTok Shop Vietnam.
Strong growth
Not only the Tet season is exciting, Vietnam's retail e-commerce has witnessed an explosion in 2024. A report by e-commerce consulting firm YouNet ECI said that the total transaction volume (GMV) on the four largest multi-industry platforms including Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop and Tiki reached 13.8 billion USD, a record increase of 40% compared to 2023.
More general figures from the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy, Ministry of Industry and Trade, estimated that the size of the e-commerce market last year exceeded 25 billion USD, growing 20%, higher than the forecast of 22 billion USD by Google, Temasek, Bain & Company in the report "e-Economy SEA 2024".
Making this strong development is the fierce race of the floors with many subsidies, incentives and entertaining sales methods, welcoming the trend of shifting daily shopping habits of Vietnamese people.
First, the big drivers of the market are Shopee and TikTok Shop, with GMV of US$9.3 billion and US$3.8 billion, respectively, accounting for 66.7% and 26.9% of the market share. Shopee continued to grow by 41% over the past year, while TikTok Shop grew at a rapid pace of 99%. According to YouNet ECI, thanks to the growth of these two platforms, e-commerce reached a record and far exceeded the forecasts in early 2024.
Second, the "trump card" to stimulate demand is to pump money into incentives and shopping combined with entertainment (shoppertainment), with livestream sales, via video. Shopee revealed that users saved a total of 16,000 billion VND thanks to "freeship" codes (free shipping) last year. "Cam floor" customers also spent 260 million hours watching shopping and entertainment programs.
Livestreaming is also a key strength of TikTok Shop. For example, on December 12 alone, the top 200 accounts on the platform broadcast nearly 1,000 hours of livestreaming, attracting 54 million views, according to the platform's Live Scope metric tool Stickler.
Many local vendors have joined in. Fruit exporter Chanh Thu recently brought OCOP 5-Star Ben Tre frozen durian to the market. Or the brand King of Dried Shrimp Ca Mau has been on the market for 10 months, recording a 3-fold increase in revenue in the 3 months before Tet.
Veena Media, an online marketing and advertising consultancy, rates Vietnam as the third largest market for livestream sales (Live Commerce) in Southeast Asia. "Domestic brands are gradually joining Live Commerce and are initially making positive impressions," said Ms. Thuy Pham, CEO of Veena Media.
Third, consumers are increasingly shopping online for their daily needs, helping this channel grow significantly higher than the general rate of 9% of the retail industry last year, according to data from the General Statistics Office.
YouNet ECI said that the essential goods industry grew 54% GMV. In particular, the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) group - which can be easily purchased at grocery stores, markets, and supermarkets - increased by 62%, surpassing household appliances - technology to the second position in terms of importance in online shopping carts, just behind fashion - accessories.
Notably, FMCG revenue growth came more from increased production than price increases, showing that the demand for online shopping for essential goods is gradually forming and stabilizing, according to Mr. Nguyen Phuong Lam, Director of Market Analysis at YouNet ECI. "Convenience, attractive promotions and diverse product accessibility have changed shopping behavior," Mr. Lam said.
Dramatic future
"e-Economy SEA 2024" forecasts that the size of Vietnam's e-commerce market could reach 63 billion USD by 2030, equivalent to a growth rate of approximately 19% in the coming years. Mr. Pham Trong Chinh, Head of the Market Expert Group of the High-Quality Vietnamese Goods Association and the Business Support Center (BSA), is optimistic about Vietnam's online retail industry.
"E-commerce growing 15-20% per year is completely feasible, an extremely stable indicator," he said.
The potential for double-digit growth has made this market witness many dramatic competitive strategies. Domestically, after a decade of penetration with 50 million adult users, Youtube has entered the e-commerce market.
From November 2024, they will allow channels with 10,000 subscribers to sell Shopee products. Channel owners who attach products will receive commissions for orders, called affiliate marketing (YouTube Shopping Affiliate), part of YouTube Shopping ambitions in Vietnam.
Ms. Mukpim Anantachai, Director of YouTube Partnerships in Vietnam and Thailand, stated that YouTube Shopping is the focus that the platform is passionate about and focuses on investing in the coming time. Vietnam is one of the first 6 countries where this program is present, along with the US, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and India.
Previously, the Affiliate Marketing front was once stirred up by the penetration of the e-commerce platform Temu from China in October 2024. In addition to prices and free shipping, this platform also pays a lot of commissions to Affiliate Marketing participants.
The Temu "fever" only stopped when the platform was required by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to register to operate in Vietnam. In early December, Temu's Vietnamese application stopped working, but users could still download the English application and make transactions. Whether Temu will completely abandon the Vietnamese market is still unknown.
After the initial fever of cheap prices, the market gradually realized that the prices of Temu, Shein and domestic exchanges were not much different. Mr. Pham Trong Chinh explained that the West was surprised by the cheap prices of Temu, but Southeast Asia was close to the Chinese supply source, so the price level had been low for a long time.
Therefore, the upcoming battle is not about who can be cheaper, but the focus is on delivery, entertainment shopping and affiliate marketing. Of these three factors, Shopee is still "willing to spend" money on "free shipping" promotions, TikTok Shop has recently launched more "free shipping" codes to increase competition. With affiliate marketing, the Shopee - Youtube collaboration can be a factor to maintain the heat of the market.
Another front is how Vietnamese brands and domestic sellers will stand in the lucrative e-commerce pie. Recently, the government has abolished the VAT exemption policy for small-value imported goods sold via express delivery from February 18. "The removal of the tax exemption regulation is to ensure fairness and encourage consumption of domestically produced goods," said the Ministry of Finance.
Domestic brands and sellers also need to be proactive, in the context of livestreaming continuing to be "hot", Veena Media CEO Thuy Pham said that simply attracting views is no longer the decisive factor for success.
"To build a solid and sustainable position, brands need to persistently invest in product quality, be creative in content strategy, and make the most of advanced technologies," she recommended.
TH (according to VnExpress)Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/nam-phat-trien-ky-luc-cua-thuong-mai-dien-tu-viet-nam-404122.html
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