Vietnam’s web-based shopping growth second highest in Southeast Asia

Indonesia came in first with a growth of 14 percent year-on-year in the first half, while that of all other countries in the region fell, said a recent report by Malaysia-based market research firm iPrice.

In terms of monthly web visits, which shows how well e-commerce players are keeping users, Singapore-based Shopee ranked top in Vietnam in the second quarter with 38.6 million users, up 12 percent in year-on-year.

It was followed by Vietnam-based Tiki with 33.7 million users and Singapore-based Lazada with 28.3 million.

In terms of mobile app downloads, which shows how well players are acquiring new customers, Shopee also remained top in Q2.

The company has focused on mobile phone apps right from the beginning and built its user interface for that purpose, making the shopping experience for users fast and intuitive, U.K.-based market research firm Econsultancy said earlier.

Shopee was followed by Sendo, which was the only Vietnamese app among top five Southeast Asian e-commerce apps downloaded in Q2.

The report said that Sendo gained downloads by targeting the rural areas instead of urban areas like other competitors. Sendo CEO Tran Hai Linh said that almost 70 percent of its orders derived from non-urban areas.

Five of the top ten most visited e-commerce sites in the region are Vietnam-based, showing the potential of Vietnamese e-commerce companies in competing with international players, the report said.

Last year, Vietnam’s online sales rose 30 percent from 2017 to $8 billion, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.