In the National Postal Development Strategy, approved by the Deputy Minister in May, the government aims to give all households in the country digital addresses by 2025. The strategy intends to make the postal industry an essential element of the country’s digital economy infrastructure by making it a foundation for e-commerce, a press release has stated.
By 2025, the strategy also plans to have all farmer households function on e-commerce platforms developed by postal companies. The postal industry consists of a network of over 21,600 points covering communes and 63 provinces and cities, with nearly 800 enterprises operating in the industry. By 2030, the postal and delivery industry could reach annual revenue of US$10 billion, given the current growth rate of around 20-30% per year. Completing the digital address platform, in line with the national digital map, is important for the development of e-commerce and the digital economy, the release stated.
The Ha Noi People’s Committee has issued a plan to carry out a pilot implementation of the national digital address platform associated with the digital map programme in the capital city. It will be initially piloted in the Hoang Mai, Hoan Kiem, Nam Tu Liem, Dong Anh, and Thach That districts. Services that use digital addresses would also be piloted, including tourism, fire prevention and fighting, and postal services.
The postal infrastructure, coupled with telecommunications infrastructure, electronic payment methods, and digital addresses would develop e-commerce and expand the market for postal services. In rural areas, this would accelerate the digital agricultural economy and enable residents to access public services more easily. According to a report by the Vietnam E-Commerce Association, the e-commerce market could expand at an average of 29% every year to reach US$52 billion by 2025. By the same year, Vietnam targets that the volume of mobile payment transactions will grow by 50-80% while transaction value will surge by 80%-100% annually. It also aims for at least 80% of the population aged 15 and above to have bank accounts, the number of Internet payments to increase by 35%-40% annually, and the rate of individuals and organisations using cashless payments to reach 40%.
A representative from the Department of Posts noted that the drastic change in the postal and e-commerce markets along with technological advancements have transformed business procedures and created new opportunities for the postal industry. The huge volume of goods traded on online channels led to an explosive demand for delivery services. This enabled the postal industry to move from delivering newsletters to setting a foundation for e-commerce development, an essential pillar of the digital economy.
The postal industry plays a role in ensuring the smooth flow of not only data but goods in the digital economy. Over the past few years, the industry has witnessed a melding of old and new. Traditional postal companies, which were slow to renovate were losing market share to younger, tech-driven start-ups. This forced the postal industry to transform itself into a digital supply network.
Postal enterprises develop in the direction of becoming enterprises that apply digital technologies to create new products and services and ensure people have the right to access quality postal services at reasonable prices. The strategy will focus on building a Made-in-Vietnam ecosystem of digital platforms, including digital addresses and e-commerce platforms.
