Temu floor sells cheap goods, National Assembly delegates warn

Faced with the aggressive marketing of the Temu e-commerce platform with many products advertised at 90% off, a National Assembly delegate issued a warning to people and businesses.

Although not yet licensed to operate in Vietnam (as of October 25, 2024), the aggressive marketing of Chinese e-commerce platforms like Temu makes consumers very curious and domestic businesses extremely worried.

Massive advertising and marketing along with products with shockingly low prices are also "hot" topics that many reporters have asked National Assembly delegates on the sidelines during the first week of the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly.

There needs to be a control mechanism to ensure an equal business environment.

Sharing on the sidelines of the National Assembly on the afternoon of October 25, National Assembly delegate Tran Hoang Ngan (Ho Chi Minh City delegation) said: E-commerce is the trend of the times, but if we lack inspection and strict management regulations, it will cause serious damage to the economy and society.

Delegate Tran Hoang Ngan - Ho Chi Minh City Delegation - shared with reporters about the "phenomenon" of Temu platform and the e-commerce management mechanism, and the response of businesses and people. Photo: Thu Huong

In the era of Industrial Revolution 4.0, e-commerce is a bustling and vibrant activity, especially in our country's market of 100 million people. The growth rate of e-commerce in Vietnam in recent times is considered to be the fastest in the region.

However, some e-commerce platforms operating in Vietnam such as Temu are not registered, sell cheap goods, and advertise heavily, causing unfair competition with domestic enterprises, affecting the investment environment, fair and equal business.

Delegate Tran Hoang Ngan said that we need to soon legislate regulations to prevent tax losses and protect consumers from having goods of clear quality and origin. Therefore, this time, the National Assembly will pass many laws, including the Law on Tax Administration, which has included this content so that state agencies can coordinate with each other and ensure tax collection on e-commerce platforms.

“ If we do not ensure a fair competitive environment, it will affect businesses that always respect the law and law enforcement will be disadvantaged ,” delegate Ngan emphasized.

For consumers, Mr. Tran Hoang Ngan recommends that consumers should be extremely careful when choosing to buy goods on unverified e-commerce platforms, especially cheap goods of unknown origin, if the quality is not guaranteed, it will affect health.

At the same time, delegates also noted that management agencies need to have specific regulations to best protect consumers, avoid commercial fraud, counterfeit goods, and fake goods in the e-commerce environment.

According to delegate Tran Hoang Ngan, e-commerce is the trend of the times, we must adapt to civilized commerce. The issue of how to manage the state to ensure a transparent environment and fair market is not only in Vietnam but also in many other countries in the period of rapid development of science and technology.

We are perfecting institutions and domestic enterprises themselves must also get used to this form. Delegates suggested that enterprises must accelerate digital transformation and green transformation, and management agencies must have policies to support and train enterprises, production and business establishments in online business and skills in selling on e-commerce platforms. Because Vietnamese retailers are sometimes used to the traditional method of selling in markets, now on e-commerce platforms, we must help them.

Mr. Ngan also advised consumers to be extremely vigilant in choosing low-priced goods but ensuring quality and origin... Media agencies must also have propaganda articles to help shoppers on e-commerce platforms be cautious in choosing goods, suppliers and even providing personal data.

Concerns about cheap Chinese goods "accumulating into warehouses" in the domestic market

Before the event of the Temu e-commerce platform, sharing with reporters of the Industry and Trade Newspaper on the sidelines of the National Assembly session on the afternoon of October 25, delegate Hoang Van Cuong - Hanoi delegation - said that for Chinese goods, it does not only affect the retail shopping of each person. Delegate Hoang Van Cuong is concerned that those goods may be concentrated in a single point, warehouse, distribution center in the country, then dispersed.

Delegate Hoang Van Cuong is concerned about cheap Chinese goods being stored in domestic warehouses. Photo: Thu Huong

“ If each person places an order on the other side, then each order is shipped from China, it is not much. Therefore, the issue of managing goods brought from the border into the domestic market is a matter of concern, ” the delegate expressed.

Delegate Hoang Van Cuong said: Currently, we do not have a mechanism to control the quality of goods on e-commerce platforms. The quality of goods depends on the management of e-commerce platforms. Market management agencies are assigned the task and will have to manage and inspect e-commerce platforms.

Regarding the regulation of not taxing goods imported into Vietnam with a value of less than 1 million VND in the form of e-commerce, delegate Hoang Van Cuong said that sometimes the cost of tax collection procedures for these activities is higher than the amount of tax collected by the tax authority, not to mention many items are just ordinary products serving life. Currently, we have not raised the issue of tax collection for these transactions. However, at some point, imported goods in small orders are too numerous and widespread for our management control technology to allow, at that time, we need to recalculate.

When asked about the support mechanism for domestic enterprises and e-commerce platforms, Delegate Hoang Van Cuong said that e-commerce is developing very strongly, however, in reality, the rate of goods transactions on platforms owned by Vietnamese enterprises accounts for less than 10%, the remaining 90% are foreign platforms, these platforms almost dominate the e-commerce market in Vietnam.

Vietnam is a country with the fastest e-commerce growth rate in Southeast Asia. Photo: Thu Huong

Delegates believe that Vietnamese enterprises have their own advantages. If domestic enterprises have a good distribution network, they will easily approach domestic customers because they understand their psychology, culture, and transaction methods...

“ If Vietnamese enterprises’ e-commerce platforms are well organized, they can create prestige among domestic consumers, thanks to the mechanism of controlling the origin of goods, quality... However, the difficulty is that the goods traded on the platform are not only domestic goods but also international goods. Foreign platforms have a network operating in many countries, clearly the amount of goods is large... Therefore, Vietnamese enterprises must strengthen their capacity ” - delegate Hoang Van Cuong said.

Vietnam is one of the countries with an average e-commerce growth rate of 25% per year, among the top compared to other countries in Southeast Asia. The e-commerce retail market is estimated to reach 20.5 billion USD in 2023, the number of online shoppers is currently over 61 million and the online shopping value of one person is about 336 USD.

In the context of current international economic integration, along with the rapid and dynamic development of e-commerce, Vietnam has become a new destination for cross-border e-commerce platforms, including Temu.

Temu is a cross-border e-commerce platform, with Vietnamese language and is subject to Decree No. 52/2013/ND-CP dated May 16, 2013 of the Government on e-commerce (amended and supplemented by Decree No. 85/2021/ND-CP).

The emergence of Temu has caused governments in many countries to worry about the competitiveness of domestic retailers and small and medium-sized manufacturers. Recently, the Indonesian government has issued a ban on Temu to protect domestic businesses and prevent cheap Chinese goods from flooding the country.

The Thai government is also studying measures to tax Temu to prevent cheap Chinese products from flooding the country's market.

Temu is also currently under the attention of the US Government due to concerns related to user data security and product origin. However, no official ban has been issued for this application.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/san-temu-ban-hang-gia-re-dai-bieu-quoc-hoi-khuyen-cao-354844.html