Digital Capability: Vietnam's Challenge in the Global E-Commerce Playground

According to Alibaba.com, Vietnam's e-commerce has great advantages in terms of diverse and attractive product portfolio, abundant resources, and competitive costs, but is still limited in digital capacity and management experience.

The latest report from the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM) shows that the revenue of the e-commerce industry in 2024 is estimated to reach 25 billion USD, an increase of 20% compared to the previous year. In 2025, the growth rate is expected to reach double digits.

Meanwhile, Alibaba.com believes that Vietnamese e-commerce is not only growing strongly domestically but also has an increasingly large presence on international platforms. Statistics show that in 2024, the number of Vietnamese businesses participating in the platform increased by nearly 50% compared to the same period last year.

The product groups that recorded impressive sales were furniture, fashion , food and beverage, home and garden products. The major customer markets of Vietnamese businesses on e-commerce platforms still come from the US, India, EU, Brazil, etc.

Strengths and weaknesses of Vietnamese businesses

According to experts, the strength of Vietnamese enterprises in the global e-commerce playground is abundant resources. Specifically, Vietnamese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have abundant domestic resources and low cost advantages, helping products and services to be more competitive in terms of price and market service capacity.

Vietnam National Pavilion on Alibaba.com e-commerce platform

PHOTO: KHUONG NHA

In particular, the world 's demand for goods from Vietnam is increasing, opening up great opportunities for SME businesses to expand their scale and increase revenue.

Domestic enterprises are also constantly expanding their product portfolios. "Many industries such as textiles, agricultural products, household goods, food and beverages in Vietnam are diverse and attractive. International customers especially appreciate products in these categories, so Vietnam has many opportunities to continue expanding its operations and competing in the global game," Alibaba.com emphasized.

However, digital capacity and management experience remain major challenges for Vietnamese businesses. Digital capacity here can be understood as the ability of a business to effectively use digital technologies to operate, expand and compete in online markets.

Many Vietnamese businesses still lack digital skills, from store management, product display optimization, digital marketing to order processing and online customer care.

In fact, businesses from countries like China, India and Thailand have a big advantage thanks to their strong ability to apply digital technology. They take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing, use modern customer relationship management (CRM) systems and optimize supply chains through big data. Meanwhile, many Vietnamese businesses are still struggling with traditional methods, not fully exploiting the potential of digital tools.

To address this challenge, experts recommend that businesses need to further enhance their digital capabilities by continuously updating relevant knowledge and skills. At the same time, e-commerce platforms also need to deploy more business support programs such as: Digital skills training; instructions on using data analysis tools, automatic order management or integrating chatbots for customer care...

Along with that, finding and developing digital talent also needs to be identified as a fundamental, long-term solution. Universities can link and cooperate with global e-commerce platforms to train human resources with expertise and practical skills, helping Vietnamese businesses quickly adapt and take advantage of competitive advantages in the context of an increasingly growing digital economy.

Thanhnien.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nang-luc-so-thach-thuc-cua-viet-nam-tren-san-choi-thuong-mai-dien-tu-toan-cau-185250309131602058.htm