A customer shops online. Digital transformation will help Vietnamese businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, seek a more flexible business model. — Photo courtesy of Vnpost

HÀ NỘI — The national plan for e-commerce development in the 2021-25 period aims to turn e-commerce into one of the pioneering areas of the digital economy, helping enhance the competitiveness of businesses and promoting the growth of both the domestic market and exports, according to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyễn Sinh Nhật Tân.

Speaking at a seminar in Hà Nội on Wednesday on market development for e-commerce firms in the digital transformation era, Tân said that digital transformation will help Vietnamese businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, seek a more flexible business model, saving costs and optimising resources to overcome difficulties.

Over the years, Việt Nam has continuously recorded strong growth in the ratio of Internet users as well as the number of online shoppers, he said, noting that the value of online shopping through e-commerce platforms has risen sharply in the past five years. The figure increased from US$5 billion in 2016 to over $10 billion in 2019 and $11.8 billion in 2020.

Notably, from the beginning of the pandemic to mid-2021, Việt Nam had seen an additional 8 million digital technology consumers, 55 per cent of whom were not from big cities. Furthermore, 99 per cent of Vietnamese digital technology consumers said that they will continue to use online services in the future, showing the close ties between Vietnamese consumers and digital services and products.

At the event, many experts said that Việt Nam remains an attractive innovation centre when global capital resources have continued to flow to the country. The value of trade and investment deals surged to a record $1.37 billion in the first half of 2021. They held that e-commerce market has become a popular business model of businesses, which has a strong spreading capacity in the community. Particularly, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce has enabled businesses to make transactions with customers in a safe manner.

They agreed that e-commerce will be a new shopping trend with impressive growth. This is a good chance for businesses to serve customers at anytime and anywhere, bringing better experiences to consumers, they added. — VNS