Vietnam Online Business Forum opens

The VOBF will also come to Ho Chi Minh City on March 16. 

In his opening speech, head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Department of E-Commerce and Economy Dang Hoang Hai said after two decades of the Internet’s presence in Vietnam, e-commerce has been exploding and become popular in the lives of businesses and people. 

Statistics showed that e-commerce has grown over 20%, and particularly 25% in 2017 – among the world’s fastest. 

Hai hoped that the forum, with the participation of prestigious exerts at home and abroad, will discuss new e-commerce trends, outstanding technologies and innovative business ideas. 

The E-Business Index released by the Vietnam E-Commerce Association (VECOM) showed that online retail and marketing, tourism and payment saw the most impressive growth. Specifically, online retail revenue increased by 35% while shipping services revenue grew from 62% to 200%. 

The National Payment Corporation of Vietnam reported that online transactions using domestic cards in 2017 rose by nearly 50% in volume and 75% in value year-on-year. Several affiliated marketing companies posted 100-200 percent growth. 

According to the VECOM, the rate of room reservations via online travel agents increased by over 30% annually from 20% in 2016, pushing the online tourism earnings by more than 50%. 

Dang Thuy Ha, Director of Consumer Behaviour Research at Nielsen Vietnam, said nearly 4 billion people worldwide are forecast to subscribe to Internet by 2020. Trends such as Big data, virtual reality technology, sharing economy and cashless payment will be increasingly popular. Revenue from sharing economy is expected to near US$300 billion by 2025. 

There are 59 million Internet subscribers in Vietnam now while 91% of the population used smart phones, nearly 80% of them live in rural areas. The Vietnamese spend 25 hours per week on average on the Internet. 

VECOM Chairman Nguyen Thanh Hung said Amazon will officially enter Vietnam this March, firstly launching a project with VECOM to support small and medium-sized enterprises. 

VECOM General Secretary Tran Trong Tuyen commented that Amazon’s penetration into Vietnam will facilitate the development of eco-system, sales solutions and logistics services, as well as bring goods to consumers at more competitive prices. 

Vietnam’s e-commerce market is forecast to see intense competition this year, he said.