A Tiger Awakens: E-Commerce in Vietnam
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A TIGER AWAKENS: E-COMMERCE IN VIETNAM A GUIDE FOR AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS CONTENTS A tiger awakens: Vietnam’s internet economy landscape 05 Rapid Growth 05 Low revenue per capita 08 Key drivers 10 The rise of a connected, mobile-first population 10 A dramatic increase in licensed e-commerce platforms 11 Proactive participation of SMEs in e-commerce 12 Future potential 14 The golden population structure and an emerging middle class 14 Consistent inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) 14 Government policy and regulation frameworks 15 Improving logistics 15 Challenges 17 Key players in Vietnam’s e-commerce industry 20 Vietnam’s biggest e-commerce platforms 21 Vietnam’s online consumers 24 Purchasing on mobile 24 High-value items 25 Instant gratification market 26 High social media usage and video consumption 26 Cash on delivery preferred 27 Popular e-commerce product categories 30 Entry points for Australian businesses 35 Existing relationships 35 No existing relationships 35 Cross-border online exporting 35 Conclusion 36 How Austrade can help 37 References 39 Disclaimer Copyright © Commonwealth of Australia 2019 This report has been prepared by the Commonwealth of Australia represented by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade). 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Before reusing any part of this document, including reproduction, public display, public performance, distribution, dissemination, communication, or importation, you must comply with the Attribution requirements under the CC BY licence. 02 E-COMMERCE IN VIETNAM E-COMMERCE IN VIETNAM 03 A TIGER AWAKENS: VIETNAM’S INTERNET ECONOMY LANDSCAPE E-commerce has taken off in Vietnam thanks to soaring internet connectivity and smartphone adoption, a young tech-savvy population, and rising disposable incomes. The appetite for online shopping is growing and the number of licensed e-commerce platforms is expanding rapidly. The development of Vietnam’s online industry can be broken down into three distinct periods: › 1998 to 2005: the establishment of the first ever internet infrastructure › 2006 to 2015: mass proliferation of the internet. Almost 50 per cent of the population goes online for the first time, allowing Vietnamese to engage in e-commerce every day › 2017 to 2020: further expansion, with e-commerce crossing into new areas of the economy.1 RAPID GROWTH Vietnam’s internet economy has experienced rapid growth since 2014. Starting from a total business-to-consumer (B2C) revenue of US$2.97 billion, the sector doubled its value in three years to reach US$6.25 billion by the end of 2017.2 Since 2017, the internet economy in Vietnam has been well established with four key active sectors: e-commerce (first-hand goods); online travel (online flights, hotels and vacation rentals); online media (advertising, gaming, subscription music and video on demand); ride hailing (transport, food delivery). Figure 1 - B2C E-commerce revenue and average annual value per customer (US$) 10B 10B CAGR - 20% 350 350 8B 300 6B 25% 6.25B 250 23% 5.00B 4B 200 37% 4.07B Value per customer Value Revenue (US$ Billion) Revenue 2.97B 170 2B 150 160 145 0B 100 2014 2015 2016 2017 2020f Total B2C revenue Average annual value per customer Source: Vietnam E-Commerce And Digital Economy Agency, Vietnam E-Commerce Association 1. Vietnam E-commerce Association 2. Vietnam E-commerce Association 04 E-COMMERCE IN VIETNAM E-COMMERCE IN VIETNAM 05 Having tripled in value from 2015 to the end of 2018, Vietnam’s online market is now the fourth largest in Southeast The most dynamic part of Vietnam’s online economy is sales of durable goods. This sector grew by 22 per cent in Asia. Amongst the region’s major economies, Vietnam’s online market is also the fastest growing, with a compound 20175, and almost doubled in 20186. Sales reached nearly US$3 billion in 2018 and are forecast to reach US$15 annual growth rate of 35 per cent over the same period.3 billion by 2025. This means durable goods will constitute almost half of all online sales in Vietnam.7 According to recent industry reports, Vietnam’s online economy will continue to grow strongly, and be worth US$10 billion by 2020.4 If trend rates continue, Vietnam’s online economy will be worth US$33 billion by 20253, making it the third-largest digital market in Southeast Asia. Figure 4 - SEA e-commerce market size (GMV, US$ Billion) Figure 2 - SEA internet economy market size (GMV, US$ Billion) 41% 28% 53B 100B 30% 43% 21% 34% 18% 49% 87% 94% 27% 42% 22% 15B 12.2B 13B 7.0B 10B 22% 16% 25% 5.0B 1.7B 1.0B 2.0B 1.5B 1.8B 3.0B 2.8B 25% 43B 0.5B 1.0B 0.9B 0.4B 13% 49% 27% 19% 35% 33B 30% Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam 27B 16% 21B 21B 22B 10B 12B 2015 2018 2025 CAGR 8B 8B 9B 5B 5B 6B 2B 7B 3B Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam 2015 2018 2025 CAGR The value of Vietnam’s internet economy is also the highest of the major regional economies, with a gross merchandise value equivalent to 4 per cent of gross domestic product. Figure 3 - Internet economy GMV as a percentage of GDP (2018) 2.8% 2.9% 2.7% 4.0% 2.7% 3.2% 1.6% SEA Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam 5. Statistica 3. e-Conomy SEA 2018, by Google and Temasek 6. e-Conomy SEA 2018, by Google and Temasek 4. Vietnam E-Commerce and Digital Economy Agency, Vietnam E-Commerce Association 7. Statistica 06 E-COMMERCE IN VIETNAM E-COMMERCE IN VIETNAM 07 LOW REVENUE PER CAPITA Vietnam’s online shopping cart value per capita is still low in comparison with other markets. This can be attributed in part to Vietnam’s low GDP per capita. In 2017, online shopping cart values averaged US$23 per shop in Vietnam, compared to US$42 in Thailand and US$36 in Indonesia.8 Even after a decade of rapid economic development and huge improvements in the country’s overall quality of life, Vietnam’s GDP remains significantly lower than most other Southeast Asian nations. Figure 5 - Average e-commerce shopping cart value & GDP per capita of Southeast Asian countries (US$) 100 62K 60K 90 80 50K 40K 60 56 54 42 30K 40 36 20K GDP per capita 23 20 11K Average shopping cart value Average 7K 10K 3K 3K 4K - K Vietnam Philippines Indonesia Thailand Malaysia Singapore 90 Source: E-Commerce shopping cart value recorded by iPrice, July 2016 - Jun 2017, GDP per capita by International Monetary Fund 2017 11k 7k 3k 3k 4k 8. Statistica 08 E-COMMERCE IN VIETNAM E-COMMERCE IN VIETNAM 09 KEY DRIVERS A DRAMATIC INCREASE IN LICENSED E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS As the number of online shoppers continues to climb, so too has the number of licensed e-commerce platforms. Direct sales websites hosted by individual brands have been the fastest growing, and currently represent the highest number of e-commerce operators. Figure 8 - Licensed e-commerce direct sales Figure 9 - Licensed online promotion & auction websites & trade platforms in Vietnam websites in Vietnam 14,000 13,510 100 93 90 12,000 80 75 10000 9,429 70 Vietnam’s e-commerce sector has developed as a result of three key factors: a rapidly growing online population; the establishment 60 60 of user-friendly e-commerce platforms; and the uptake of online business transactions by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 8,000 50 6,000 THE RISE OF A CONNECTED, MOBILE-FIRST POPULATION 40 4,653 4,000 30 The expansion of e-commerce in Vietnam has been fuelled by a growing online population, which reached 52 million 20 in 2017. An impressive 65 per cent of the online population has participated in an e-commerce activity, and this 20 19 9 2,000 13 13 14 number is predicted to increase steadily until 2020. 10 674 492 682 0 90 283 0 Figure 6 - Total Population vs. Total Internet users in Vietnam Figure 7 - Percentage of internet users who Direct e-commerce E-commerce trade Online promotion Online auction (million) participated in e-commerce in Vietnam sales websites platforms websites websites 2013 2014 2015 2016 2013 2014 2015 2016 120M 68% 67% 93M 94M 95M 96M Source: Vietnam E-Commerce And Digital Economy Agency Source: Vietnam E-Commerce And Digital Economy Agency 100M 88M 89M 90M 91M 66% 65% 90 80M 64% As e-commerce platforms have become more established in Vietnam, many have started to offer alternative payment options, including 62% 60M 52M 62% cash on delivery.