Alibaba to increase investment in Vietnam

In the next three years, Alibaba.com will complete the establishment of specialized teams to operate in Vietnam’s emerging manufacturing hubs, including Binh Duong, Bac Ninh, Long An, Da Nang and Hai Phong, in addition to the teams already operating in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Roger Luo, director of Alibaba in Asia-Pacific, announced recently in Ho Chi Minh City.

"Vietnam is a very important part of our e-commerce development map," Luo said, pointing out three advantages of this market.

First, Vietnam has favorable foreign trade policies with many free trade agreements being signs. "Compared to China, Vietnamese-made goods have an advantage. Moreover, the U.S.-China trade war has big influence on Chinese goods, while Vietnamese goods are not affected," he said.

Second, labor costs are still low. Third, there are many Vietnamese specialty products.

"Vietnamese suppliers on our platform are gradually building a reputation with a large number of global buyers, especially in such areas as agricultural products, food, fashion and home garden products," he said.

The number of Vietnamese sellers on Alibaba’s e-commerce platform has increased to thousands.

The number of Vietnamese products available on this platform in March surged by 24% against the same period last year.

In the first half of this year, Vietnam’s export turnovers stood at US$164 billion, down 12% against the same period last year.

The situation would be better in the second half of the year because inventory in the U.S. is decreasing.

"Small and medium-sized businesses need to quickly seize this opportunity by reviving their human resources and strengthening their digital capabilities," he recommended.