E-commerce exports reached $3.5 billion last year

Online retail exports were estimated at 3.5 billion USD last year, up 7% compared to 2021, and could increase nearly four times to 13 billion USD by 2027.

A newly released report by the UK-based consultancy Access Partnership said that Vietnam's business-to-consumer (B2C) retail export turnover via e-commerce reached 3.5 billion USD (about 80,700 billion VND) last year. The figure accounts for about 1% of total export turnover in 2022. Access Partnership said the data was calculated based on data from Vietnam's customs and statistics agencies and information from the Asian Development Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the World Bank.

Based on recent export trends and the current pace at which businesses are adopting e-commerce, the unit forecasts that e-commerce export revenue in Vietnam could increase to US$5.5 billion (VND124,200 billion) by 2027 with an annual growth rate of 9%. This is called the "Business as Usual" (BAU) scenario.

In a better scenario called “MSME-led”, Access Partnership forecasts that the turnover could reach US$13 billion (VND296,300 billion) by 2027. To achieve this figure, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) must accelerate the pace of applying e-commerce to export their products and services compared to the present.

“Vietnam is well-positioned to reap significant benefits from the rapid growth of its e-commerce sector,” the report said, citing the pandemic’s restrictions on consumer habits and a policy environment that is conducive to e-commerce exports.

Access Partnership said 95% of MSME respondents expect B2C export growth via e-commerce to be at least 10% per year over the next five years.

"Cross-border e-commerce is assessed to have great potential and is consistent with the government's digital economic development policy," said Ms. Lai Viet Anh, Deputy Director of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy (iDEA) at the "Cross-border e-commerce conference" organized by the department and Amazon Global Selling on June 9 in Ho Chi Minh City.

According to Ms. Viet Anh, many market research units also expect Vietnam's turnover to exceed tens of billions of USD in the next 4 years. However, for this number to become a reality, Vietnamese enterprises need to overcome 4 main barriers regarding import market regulations, competitiveness, costs (marketing, logistics) and market information.

To help businesses overcome obstacles, the government has a number of policies such as supporting 50% of the cost of opening and maintaining booths according to Decree 80; stimulating cross-border e-commerce according to Decision 645 or the project to train 5,000 businesses with knowledge and skills in cross-border e-commerce to participate in global distribution platforms.

However, according to Access Partnership, businesses still want to receive more support. This unit recommends that Vietnam refer to some government support projects for sellers from other countries. For example, China's "Comprehensive Pilot Zone" (CPZ) for cross-border e-commerce.

Among them, Hangzhou CPZs have developed two platforms, an online integrated service platform and an offline industrial park platform, that enable information exchange between government agencies along the value chain, including customs, financing and taxation. These platforms have reduced the time required for customs clearance and simplified the export declaration process for MSMEs.

Assessing the cross-border B2C export situation in the first 5 months of the year, Mr. Gijae Seong, CEO of Amazon Global Selling Vietnam, did not share specific figures but said that the revenue of Vietnamese sellers on Amazon still grew positively.

"Vietnam's export growth rate on Amazon is the highest in the world and is attracting the attention of the group. Not many countries have built a cross-border export model like here," he said. The reason is because the number of new sellers is increasing rapidly and quickly. Vietnam has the advantage of abundant capacity.

In 2022, the number of Vietnamese sellers on Amazon increased by 80% compared to 2021, reaching thousands of units. This helped export value increase by 45%, with more than 10 million "Made in Vietnam" products sold abroad.

"2023 still has global economic challenges but cross-border e-commerce opportunities await," added Mr. Gijae Seong. To grasp this, he recommends that businesses pay attention to three aspects: reading customer tastes with digital tools; thereby innovating products to suit needs; and building brands to enhance product value.

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