Google rep sees Vietnam as fast growing e-commerce market

Phan said that online purchasing, especially through mobile phones, is becoming a growing trend in Vietnam.

Approximately 80 million mobile subscribers used smartphones to make purchases online last year in Vietnam. In 2020, every one percent increase in mobile users will fetch Vietnam $100 million.

The Google representative added that 70 percent of Vietnamese people look for information about products and the locations they can make purchases before buying, while 82 percent still use their phones to decide what to buy when they are in a shop.

Online sales may be growing at a staggering rate, but many Vietnamese enterprises are ignoring the opportunity. Phan said that only 20 percent of small and medium firms have websites to promote their sales, and 70 percent have difficulty accessing them via their phones.

Data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that e-commerce reached $4 billion in Vietnam last year, up 37 percent from 2014. Tran Huu Linh, director of the Department of E-Commerce and Information Technology, predicts that revenue from online trading will reach $10 million in 2020, equivalent to five percent of the country’s retail sales revenue.

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said at a conference in February that: “This [online purchasing] will act as a key driver to change the way Vietnamese people buy goods and lead to a new trend.”