Vietnamese enterprises facing challenges from cross-border e-commerce platforms

	For sustainable development of cross-border e-commerce
	Customs sector proactively manages cross-border e-commerce

Overview of the workshop. Photo: T.D

At the seminar titled "Supporting Vietnamese goods on E-commerce platforms", held on November 20 in Ho Chi Minh City, experts shared that e-commerce has become an inevitable trend, offering new opportunities for businesses.

E-commerce platforms have emerged as crucial distribution channels, enabling goods to reach consumers quickly and conveniently.

Nguyen Minh Duc, Deputy Secretary-General of the Vietnam E-Commerce Association, citing data from Google, highlighted that Vietnam's e-commerce sector grew by approximately 18% last year. Platform-specific data also showed a similar growth rate of 18% in the last quarter.

Furthermore, Duc emphasized that e-commerce was an essential avenue for businesses to exploit cross-border export opportunities. Over recent years, despite the pandemic, many cross-border e-commerce exporters have achieved annual growth rates of 15-20%.

However, domestic businesses are encountering fierce competition from international companies, which benefit from advantages in operational costs, logistics, pricing, and warehouse investments.

Nguyen Xuan Thao, a Standing Committee member of the Vietnam Logistics Business Association (VLA), noted that Vietnam's retail market was undergoing a significant transformation from traditional models to modern channels and e-commerce. The integration of online and offline retail enables businesses to optimize revenue streams.

Nonetheless, the entry of cross-border platforms such as Temu and Shein into Vietnam, alongside competition from low-cost Chinese platforms like 1688 and Taobao, has intensified pressure. The market was already dominated by foreign platforms such as Shopee, TikTok Shop, Lazada, Tiki, and Sendo.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Duc shared insights into the opportunities and challenges faced by Vietnamese goods on e-commerce platforms.

The robust growth of e-commerce systems, logistics infrastructure, and the influx of foreign goods have posed challenges for domestic retailers in terms of pricing and service speed. Therefore, domestic businesses need to enhance service quality, differentiate products, and optimize processes, particularly logistics, to strengthen their competitiveness.

Sharing his journey of building a Vietnamese brand amid the growing e-commerce landscape, Nguyen Ngoc Luan, Director of Meet More Company, a pioneer in bringing deeply processed Vietnamese agricultural products to global markets, described it as a novel approach.

To market deeply processed Vietnamese agricultural products globally, Luan learned livestreaming techniques and content creation with Gen Z collaborators to develop a unique strategy tailored to his business.

The company independently organized livestream sessions to promote OCOP (One Commune, One Product) products from Can Gio to Ben Thanh Market, using these programs to help Vietnamese businesses test and adapt to e-commerce trends.

Leveraging the OCOP brand is a significant step in elevating Vietnamese goods, providing momentum to compete on e-commerce platforms and international markets.

According to Nguyen Minh Hung, Deputy Head of Trade Management at the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade, Vietnam, as an export-oriented country, must prioritize the development of logistics infrastructure. With strategic geographic advantages, including extensive coastlines, the country has substantial potential for growth.

In addition to large-scale projects, more specialized warehouses need strong investments to better support cross-border exports.

“Technology, in particular, helps us overcome language barriers. Someone can livestream to 40 countries in 40 languages with highly localized tones. If we fully leverage technology, we can achieve significant success,” said Hung.