Firms advised to capitalise on cross-border e-commerce to boost exports

Manufacturing enterprises, including small and micro-sized businesses, can leverage e-commerce channels to directly sell goods to international consumers, increasing revenues and market presence, experts have suggested at a recent seminar on boosting Vietnam’s exports through cross-border e-commerce systems.

At the event held in Ho Chi Minh City on June 7, Ta Hoang Linh, Director of the European-American Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that given Vietnam’s deepening integration into the global economy and opportunities from new-generation free trade agreements, the participation in online export-import systems and cross-border e-commerce channels is an effective solution, opening up many chances for Vietnamese enterprises.

A 2023 report by the ministry’s Vietnam E-Commerce and Digital Economy Agency showed that retail e-commerce revenue grew by 25% compared to 2022 to reach 20.5 billion USD, placing Vietnam among the top 10 countries with the highest e-commerce growth rates in the world.

Tran Phu Lu, Director of the HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC), noted that the type of trade helps businesses reduce operational and expansion costs, optimise goods management, warehousing, and delivery, and take advantage of global shipping partners, among other benefits.

However, they must clearly understand and comply with regulations on consumer protection, customer data security, taxes, customs, copyrights, branding, and intellectual property rights as well as transaction policies, he said.

Tran Van Phuong Trinh, a senior account manager at Amazon Global Selling Vietnam, added that the number of products sold by Vietnamese enterprises on Amazon has increased by over 300% in the past five years. Through the e-commerce platform, Vietnamese products could reach more than 2 billion people each year in markets across North America, Europe, and many other countries such as Australia, Japan, Singapore, and India.

According to her, small and micro-sized enterprises only need goods and production processes that meet market standards to utilise e-commerce channels to directly sell to consumers worldwide. With the support of technology and e-commerce platforms, they can actively receive orders from anywhere, at any time, and manage and operate their sales activities effectively./.