Only 25% of Vietnamese firms have website

Amid a growing trend of omnichannel commerce, many retailers invest only in social media and e-commerce platforms, and do not build websites, causing many shoppers to worry about the legitimacy of the shops they encounter, thus detracting the shopping experience, VNNIC director Nguyen Hong Thang said. "Many entities are not fully aware of the importance of a legitimate online presence."

He said a website is like the home or headquarters of a retail store on the Internet, and could integrate and link to other sales platforms without being dependent on the policies and algorithms of social networks and e-commerce platforms.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, there are 14 million grocery stores and over 9,000 traditional markets in the country, accounting for 75% of the retail market and meeting 85% of consumer needs.

If their digital transformation is not ensured, the business activities of small traders would be affected and have social consequences, it warned.

Customers at a brick-and-mortar store in HCMC in May 2024. Photo by VnExpress/ Thanh Tung

To encourage businesses to go digital and promote e-commerce, it has launched a program to support their online presence with digital services using the national domain ".vn."

The program offers free domain names and accompanying digital services for two years, including email and website services for their ".vn" domain for new businesses and individuals aged 18-23, and support for creating a website within one hour.

The government seeks to have 350,000 id.vn domain names and 50,000 biz.vn domain names by 2025.