Online retail in Vietnam is still in an early stage of development. In 2017, it was the fourth largest B2C E-Commerce market among the other major economies in Southeast Asia and is expected to maintain the third highest compound annual growth rate through 2021. The rising Internet penetration is one of the major growth drivers of online retailing in Vietnam. More than half of the country’s population had Internet access last year. Above two-thirds of Internet traffic stemmed from mobile, with smartphone shopping apps becoming as popular as desktop to shop online in 2017. A small double-digit share of enterprises in Vietnam have already introduced selling apps in their business. One more driving force for Vietnamese E-Commerce is the large population of millennials. This consumer group is more likely to engage in online shopping, use new technologies and follow trends.
However, certain barriers to future online growth also exist. Most important of them is the low consumer trust in online shopping. One-half of potential digital consumers doubts the quality of products and does not trust online sellers. Even among online shoppers the level of concern over online payment security is high, with 9 out of 10 Vietnamese online consumers preferring to pay in cash on delivery, rather than by debit or credit card.
Find out more in our report “Vietnam B2C E-Commerce Market 2018“.
