Digital workforce bottleneck: Barriers on the breakthrough journey of e-commerce

VTV.vn - Vietnam's digital economy is booming thanks to e-commerce, but this growth is being threatened by a serious shortage in the quantity and quality of digital human resources.

The scale of e-commerce is forecast to exceed 30 billion USD by 2025, but human resources are showing a large gap, unable to keep up with the expansion speed of businesses and ecosystems.

Market Breakthrough: Demand for Digital Human Resources "Escalates"

Over the past 5 years, Vietnam's e-commerce has continuously grown by double digits, rising to become the most vibrant market group in Asia. At the current rate, retail e-commerce is forecast to exceed 30 billion USD in 2025, officially becoming an important pillar and driving force of the national digital economy . This impressive milestone not only reflects a profound transformation in consumers' shopping habits, but is also the result of a strong digitalization strategy from international and domestic e-commerce giants, along with the participation of hundreds of thousands of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

This expansion is also reinforced by a systematic breakthrough in supporting areas such as digital logistics, cashless payments, digital advertising and especially the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in supply chain management and retail. This growth in both breadth and depth creates a comprehensive digital ecosystem, but at the same time also pushes the demand for high-quality human resources to increase at an unprecedented rate.

According to market surveys from leading recruitment companies, since the beginning of the year, the demand for recruiting e-commerce personnel has increased by 30-50%. The most sought-after positions focus on platform operations, store optimization, big data management, and high-performance digital marketing. Platforms and large enterprises are constantly expanding their data analysis teams, smart warehouse operations, and AI development/application teams. This shift puts enormous pressure on the supply of digital human resources, which is already limited and showing signs of "exhaustion" in the high-quality group.

Retail e-commerce is forecast to surpass the $30 billion mark in 2025.

In particular, small businesses have even more difficulty recruiting qualified e-commerce staff. Many brand owners have had to shift their strategy to internal training or accept using unqualified personnel, only considered "tech-savvy" to fill basic operational positions. Mr. Cao Minh Tuan, owner of an online fashion brand, shared about this reality: "We have a hard time recruiting e-commerce operators. The salary for a high-performance advertising employee has increased by 1.5 times in two years. Many young people are passionate and know how to use basic tools, but lack basic skills in digital business thinking and data analysis. After training, they easily change jobs because market salaries fluctuate constantly and competition is too fierce, especially from large platforms or foreign companies." This sharing reflects the difficult situation of the SMEs sector, where limited finances make it difficult for them to compete on personnel costs compared to large corporations.

Thirst for core technology personnel, lack of solid foundation to compete

This shortage is not only limited in quantity but also reveals many limitations in quality, creating a strategic "gap" and reducing the long-term competitiveness of the industry. According to the latest statistics, out of more than 500 universities and colleges nationwide, only 36 schools have formal training majors in e-commerce. Many schools only integrate a few basic courses on online sales or digital marketing into traditional economic sectors, lacking a systematic and updated approach to core digital technology . This situation causes the market to seriously lack a workforce equipped with solid foundational knowledge and modern practical skills.

The quality gap is clearly shown in many aspects. Notably, the majority of workers are self-taught and lack basic training. According to the survey, only about 30% of current e-commerce personnel have received systematic formal training. The majority of the rest enter the market through short-term courses, leading to unsystematic knowledge and lack of basic skills in information technology, data analysis and modern digital operational thinking.

In addition, the gap between schools and businesses is too large. E-commerce training programs at many facilities are still heavily theoretical and slow to update compared to the reality of the capital market, which changes every quarter. Businesses need employees who understand the job, are familiar with customer behavior analysis tools, manage smart warehouses, and quickly adapt to the new algorithms of the platform.

Most workers are self-taught and lack basic training.

More importantly, the market is thirsty for high-quality human resources in the technology field. Although e-commerce is the most "technologically" developed industry, the market is seriously lacking in experts at the top of the human resource pyramid, that is, data analysts who can turn huge customer data into competitive advantages; engineers who operate essential automated systems/digital logistics to solve the problem of delivery costs; AI application experts who develop personalized customer experience solutions; and cybersecurity experts who ensure the safety of digital transactions. This group of personnel is the decisive factor for Vietnamese e-commerce to enter the stage of competition through technology and innovation.

"Filling" Strategy: Upgrading the Digital Human Resources Platform

According to economic experts, if the digital human resource gap is not filled strategically, the growth momentum of Vietnam's e-commerce can easily be "braked" and the full potential of the digital economy cannot be fully exploited. Ms. Le Hoang Oanh, Director of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy (Ministry of Industry and Trade), the state management agency directly in this field, has repeatedly affirmed the pioneering role of e-commerce in the digital economy, while emphasizing the challenge of human resources.

Ms. Oanh commented that Vietnam's e-commerce is in a period of rapid growth and has made a great contribution to the digital economy, but we need to clearly identify that digital human resources are the biggest bottleneck hindering the realization of strategic goals. For the e-commerce industry to break through and become the center of the region, we cannot rely solely on policies or technology infrastructure. We need a strategic force of well-trained digital experts, from warehouse operations, in-depth data analysis to AI application experts. If we cannot solve this problem of 'human resources', the high growth rate will soon stagnate, and more seriously, we will have to depend on foreign human resources and technology in core technical systems.

This view is reinforced by a representative of the Vietnam E-commerce Association (Vecom), who confirmed that the shortage of high-quality human resources is the biggest challenge for the industry in at least the next five years. E-commerce platforms are constantly expanding but are always in a state of "not enough recruitment", especially in the high-tech technical group and the complex operational group, which requires deep practical experience.

As the market grows faster than the speed of training, cracks in the "human legs" become increasingly apparent. The first consequence is a decline in operational efficiency. Steps that are considered minimal such as on-time delivery, coherent order processing, store optimization or standard customer care will be continuously interrupted, negatively affecting the user experience and shaking confidence in e-commerce.

Along with that is the risk of falling behind in technology. In the context of global e-commerce shifting strongly to an operating model based on AI, big data and automation, the lack of technology experts causes many Vietnamese businesses to be slow to apply or ineffectively apply new technologies. When neighboring markets are accelerating with technological innovation, Vietnamese e-commerce is very likely to fall into a position of "chasing" instead of leading. Another consequence is increased operating costs, as businesses are forced to pay high salaries to retain skilled personnel. This situation makes it difficult for many small businesses to compete, and at the same time pushes many units into dependence on foreign solutions and personnel - which poses great risks to autonomy and data security.

To avoid "regrettable missteps", the only fundamental solution is to comprehensively and long-term upgrade the digital human resource platform. Dr. Mac Quoc Anh, Vice President and General Secretary of the Hanoi Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, emphasized the need for a national strategy that puts e-commerce human resource training at the center. Expanding the scale of formal training and standardizing the e-commerce industry is an urgent requirement. Universities and colleges need to update their curricula to closely follow reality, deeply integrating core digital skills such as data management, digital logistics operations, AI applications and security, instead of maintaining a fragmented or marketing-oriented approach as before.

Vietnam's e-commerce has demonstrated impressive growth capacity.

In addition to formal training, Vietnam needs a stronger ecosystem of retraining and short-term training. E-commerce is an industry with a low entry threshold but requires high practical skills. Therefore, intensive and intensive training programs for workers changing careers or unskilled workers will help supplement human resources quickly and effectively. In particular, skills in operating platforms, selling live streams, optimizing stores or implementing digital marketing are areas that can be trained quickly to meet the growing demand from small and medium-sized enterprises.

Finally, for e-commerce to be able to break through in the AI ​​era, Vietnam must invest heavily in the core technology workforce. This is the force that holds the "key" to the new game: data engineers, smart logistics optimization experts, customer behavior analysts, AI experts dedicated to e-commerce. Scholarship programs, research funding and policies to attract technology talent need to be implemented systematically and long-term to create a class of experts capable of leading innovation for the entire industry.

"Vietnam's e-commerce has demonstrated impressive growth capacity, but to maintain this momentum, the market must invest more heavily in the most core factor, which is people. Not only to solve the immediate challenges, but also to build a solid foundation to help Vietnam's e-commerce not only 'run fast', but also 'run sustainably'," Ms. Oanh affirmed./.

Source: https://vtv.vn/nut-that-nhanh-luc-so-rao-can-tren-hanh-trinh-but-pha-cua-thuong-mai-dien-tu-100251203205930179.htm