Vietnam is among the top markets in terms of adopting emerging technology. About 58% of digital consumers in the country use digital banking solutions, e-wallets, and online money transfer applications, according to a recent report on digital consumers in Southeast Asia.
Nearly 80% of the population in Vietnam are digital consumers. In 2022, 7 out of 10 digital consumers used cryptocurrencies, augmented reality, virtual reality, and NFTs. The country also has the highest rate of VR applications among Southeast Asian countries, with 29%.
Over the past year, the average contribution of e-commerce to total retail has continued to grow at 15%. Higher than growth in India (10%) and China (4%), with an online-to-total retail share of 6%. The report showed that regional consumers are at a new stage of development – after the pandemic. They prioritise an integrated shopping experience, combining online and in-person services. After the pandemic, 10% of Vietnamese surveyed moved at least one of their shopping categories from online to direct channels. However, consumers still prefer to choose to shop online for several categories.
Furthermore, during the ‘discovery’ phase of their shopping, 84% of Vietnamese shoppers use the Internet to browse and find items. According to the report, this is a period when they use more platforms than ever before, with the dominance of the e-commerce market accounting for 51% of online spending.
At the same time, social networking sites account for nearly half of online discoveries, including images (16%), social media videos (22%), and related tools such as messaging (9%). These tools were paramount channels for 44% of survey respondents. Consumers’ openness to interaction and experimentation has also led to behavioural changes, with 64% of respondents saying they have interacted with a business account in the past year. As customers seek more engagement, the content creation economy is able to grow exponentially.
In the context of digital consumption, Vietnamese users switch brands more often and increase the number of platforms they use to find a better value, with 22% of online orders made on various e-commerce platforms. Value is one of the main factors that drive this behaviour and finding a better price is the main reason for switching platforms. This is followed by the product quality and delivery times. The report projects that the number of online platforms Vietnamese consumers use will double from 8 in 2021 to 16 in 2022.
In September, OpenGov Asia reported that Vietnam’s e-commerce value will reach US$ 39 billion by 2025. The total revenue of Vietnam’s Internet economy is forecast to reach US$ 57 billion by 2025. Vietnam has the second highest percentage of consumers shopping online in the region, after Singapore.
As of September, the country’s business-to-customer (B2C) retail e-commerce revenue this year was projected at US$ 16.4 billion. It was estimated that for the first time, the number of online shopping consumers in Vietnam will reach 57 million people.
This year, the value of online shopping for the first time reached US$ 260- $285 per person. The proportion of B2C e-commerce revenue is projected to exceed 7%, reaching a 7.2%-7.8% market share in the total retail sales of consumer goods and services in Vietnam. On a global scale, retail e-commerce revenue will reach around US$ 5.6 billion this year, up about 12.7%. It is forecast that this number would reach US$ 7.4 billion by 2025.
