Promote e-commerce application and transfer ...

The workshop took place with the participation of representatives of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy (Ministry of Industry and Trade), the Department of Digital Economy and Digital Society (Ministry of Information and Communications), system deployment and solution providers, and businesses, wholesale and retail stores with digital transformation needs in the area.

E-commerce drives growth in wholesale, retail

Over the past 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. In 2023, Vietnam's e-commerce recorded a growth rate of 25%, with B2C revenue reaching 20.5 billion USD. It is forecasted that in 2024, the retail market size will exceed 25 billion USD.

The wholesale and retail sector continues to play an important role in the supply chain, supporting the flow of goods from production to consumption, creating jobs for workers and contributing to economic development. According to survey data, on average, a Vietnamese consumer buys online up to 4 times/month. With a market of nearly 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.

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 needs to be promoted 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, digital transformation solution providers have a common view that digital transformation in the retail industry is rapidly changing the way consumers shop. Online shopping, online payment and trading essential goods in the electronic environment have gradually become familiar tasks in modern life.

Strengthening digital transformation, developing digital economy in the Industry and Trade sector

In order to meet market demand, the workshop on digital economic development of the Industry and Trade sector with the theme "Promoting e-commerce application and digital transformation in the wholesale and retail sector" includes the following main contents: (i) Orientation for implementing digital transformation to support wholesale and retail in provinces and cities in 2025; (iii) Introducing the cooperation program to promote digital transformation in wholesale and retail with the Ministry of Information and Communications; (iv) Introducing some typical technology solutions to support wholesale and retail.

In addition to the pilot implementation target in 2024 in Phu Nhuan District (Ho Chi Minh City), the Ministry of Industry and Trade (Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy) will continue to coordinate and promote the implementation with the Ministry of Information and Communications of the tasks in Decision No. 1437/QD-TTg dated November 20, 2024 on the National Action Plan on Digital Economy Development for the period 2024-2025 (referred to as the Program) to expand the model to businesses and grocery stores in other provinces and cities.

To overcome the existing difficulties from the pilot units, the supporting enterprises will strengthen the connection between management at all levels and enterprises with local stores. At the same time, it is necessary to change the approach by organizing direct consultation and support at the local level, mobilizing participation from local organizations, positions directly working with the locality in each neighborhood (for example: head of residential group, associations...) to increase trust and confidence for business households and enterprises when participating in the experience of the Program's activities.

Therefore, the workshop is a place for state management agencies, implementing enterprises and beneficiaries to gather and share experiences to discuss and propose solutions to promote the scale of the Vietnamese wholesale and retail market, which is very potential and still has a lot of room for domestic e-commerce development to expand its market share both domestically and internationally, achieving the goals set out in the Program.

Source: https://moit.gov.vn/khoa-hoc-va-cong-nghe/hoi-thao-phat-trien-kinh-te-so-nganh-cong-thuong-thuc-day-ung-dung-thuong-mai-dien-tu-va-chuyen-doi-so-trong-linh-vuc-ba.html