Imports dominate popular categories on e-commerce platforms

Malaysian market research firm iPrice Group said in a report that 83 percent of the 1,200 most sought-after items were imported.

The rates for Vietnamese products ranged between 25 percent for Sendo and 13 percent for Shopee Vietnam.

The overall rate dropped to 14 percent in the first half of this year.

Sendo and Tiki are Vietnamese-owned businesses.

"Vietnamese enterprises have not paid due attention to e-commerce yet," Sendo chairman Nguyen Dac Viet Dung told VnExpress.

"After two years of working with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to bring Vietnamese goods to e-commerce platforms, we have [attracted[ many traditional retailers".

Vietnamese goods dominated the groceries category, with demand surging because of Covid-19 lockdowns.

Agricultural specialties are becoming increasingly on the two local platforms.

Vietnam’s e-commerce market has seen an average annual growth rate of 25-30 percent in the last five years, according to Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM).

Should the growth rate be maintained, Vietnam would rank third in e-commerce market size in Southeast Asia by 2025, behind Indonesia and Thailand.