E-commerce – inevitable and vital for retail industry

However, many retailers with physical shops in Vietnam have either not implemented or fully tapped into it either in terms of establishing a sales channel or a marketing channel.  

Vu Vinh Phu, president of the Hanoi Supermarket Association says online shopping has provided consumers with useful alternative methods of shopping for and buying goods and services.  However, the veracity of some online retailers is questionable, he adds.

Therefore, he has asked retail businesses to enhance their prestige to improve product quality and customer care services. He says he is convinced those businesses that maintain their prestige and heighten their responsibilities will reap success.

Regarding customer shopping behaviours, Nguyen Lam Thanh, Vietnam Digital Communications Association general secretary says the value of goods trading via online retail channels has accounted for just 0.1-0.2% of the retail industry’s total revenue, much lower than the rate in most other nations in the region and world.

Regarding payment methods, 90% of total revenues are paid via cash after taking delivery of the goods while only 10% are paid for via internet banking and credit cards.

Some 40% of the sales volume in the retail industry has focused on garments and textiles, and the fashion sector while 60% comes from electronics, household utensils and food industry. Customers are primarily office workers aged 22-40 and live in major provinces and cities.

Regarding solutions for online shopping in the retail industry, general director of disieuthi.vn JSC Nguyen Ngoc Hung says  residents in the city have always updated facilities and modern lifestyles to improve their quality of life.

At present, customers spend the majority of their time seeking products, waiting for payments or delivery when they go shopping at supermarkets.

Many people say behaviours of Vietnamese consumers have not matched the development of the trend. Many people go shopping online in the hope of purchasing goods at cheaper than brick and mortar store prices.

This purchasing theory runs counter to developed markets in the world. Thanh says in developed nations, several prestigious brand names only have online shopping channels without any physical retail establishment.

In spite of some weaknesses, Phu said the development of e-commerce is an inevitable trend. Vietnam is a nation which has fallen behind the field and should get back on the right track to catch up with other nations in the world.

The most important thing is for the state management agencies to initiate actions to limit the shortcomings, Phu concludes.