Resolution No. 25/NQ-CP of the Government sets a growth target of 20-22% for e-commerce in 2025. What will the Ministry of Industry and Trade do to achieve the target?
Not easy
Over the years, e-commerce Vietnam has made spectacular progress. If in 2014, Vietnam's B2C e-commerce sales only reached 2.97 billion USD, by the end of 2024, it would reach a value of more than 25 billion USD, accounting for about 9% of the total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue nationwide.
E-commerce activities continue to develop into an important distribution channel, contributing to the development of supply chains, domestic and international circulation; supporting the effective consumption of large quantities of agricultural products and food for farmers and businesses, especially during the harvest season. Many businesses have grown dramatically thanks to the application of e-commerce, cross-border retail sales of goods have increased, with the participation of many small and medium enterprises.
Ms. Lai Viet Anh - Deputy Director of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy (Ministry of Industry and Trade) - assessed: “ In recent years, e-commerce in Vietnam has affirmed its pioneering role in the digital economy. Although the global and regional economies are still facing many challenges, Vietnam's e-commerce continues to maintain an impressive growth rate of 18 - 25% per year. The wholesale and retail sector continues to play an important role in the supply chain, supporting the circulation of goods from production to consumption, creating jobs for workers and contributing to promoting economic development ”.
Saying that does not mean that developing e-commerce in the current period is too easy, but on the contrary, the fierce competition of e-commerce platforms as well as the needs and tastes of customers are increasingly changing. If retail businesses do not grasp and take advantage of opportunities from big shopping occasions, optimize product strategies and improve customer experience to maintain and develop market share, they will be quickly eliminated in the digital business era.
As clearly demonstrated in the report Online Retail Market Overview 2024 and Forecast 2025 recently released by Metric, last year about 165,000 shops had to leave e-commerce. The reason is that many small retailers or ineffective operators had to give way to brands with clear business strategies, product categories that suit tastes and more flexible operations.
Ms. Cao My Hanh - Brand and Public Relations Manager, Sapo Technology Joint Stock Company - said that in December 2024, Sapo conducted a survey of 15,000 sellers nationwide on the business situation in 2024. As a result, e-commerce still holds the "throne", but the growth rate of online sales in 2024 has not reached expectations. Fierce competition from international e-commerce platforms entering the market (Temu, Shein) or directly clearing customs to Vietnam (Taobao Alibaba) has made the pressure on the e-commerce sales group greater than ever.
On the other hand, platform fees for trading on the floor have increased compared to previous years, along with more strictly managed taxes, sellers face the challenge of optimizing operating costs to ensure profits.
But it is entirely possible.
Although the challenges are not small, many businesses believe that Vietnamese e-commerce can completely achieve its goals, but it requires smooth coordination between units in the ecosystem such as retail businesses, payment service providers, marketing service providers, infrastructure storage... and authorities in promoting digital transformation.
To support the business community, the leaders of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy have assigned the E-commerce Development Center to research and develop the Online Export Ecosystem (Ecomex) with specific solutions, to realize the Government's orientation, joining hands to support Vietnamese enterprises to bring products with export potential to access international markets through e-commerce.
In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Trade also organizes cross-border e-commerce training programs, thereby improving capacity, disseminating new regulations, procedures and knowledge to businesses; organizing regional linkage programs in e-commerce development; building and deploying a unified e-commerce platform for 63 provinces/cities (sanviet.vn), aiming to connect and create a platform to support both sellers, buyers and digital platforms in providing goods, connecting services, etc.
Sharing about the issue of regional connectivity in e-commerce development, Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Huyen - Deputy Director of the Department Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy - said that organizing conferences to promote regional linkages in e-commerce development has solved the reality that is also in the goal of the national e-commerce development program and plan, which is to aim for sustainable e-commerce development, narrow the regional gap and promote the consumption of key products in the regions.
“ In 2025, we continue to consider this a key task to aim at narrowing the regional gap in e-commerce development, as well as promoting the consumption of key products in localities, promoting intra-regional and inter-regional e-commerce connections through connecting state management agencies to improve the capacity to enforce legal policies in e-commerce. For example, monitoring e-commerce activities, tax management, coordinating with e-commerce service companies to solve the problem of reducing transportation costs as well as cashless payments in e-commerce, especially promoting the consumption of Vietnamese products through e-commerce …”, Ms. Huyen said.
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