Goods are being classified at a Lazada warehouse. — VNA/VNS Photo Trần Việt

By Minh Hương

HÀ NỘI — Ensuring the quality of products bought online has long been tricky, but commercial livestreams, e-consulting and virtual reality on e-commerce sites could change that.

Lê Quỳnh Mai, who is an active user of popular e-commerce sites, told Việt Nam News: “I buy most of my products, especially clothing products, from livestream activities as I can see how they look on real people instead of being cheated with the products on a picture.”

Mai said she had previously bought clothes that were totally different from how they were presented on websites so she no longer believed in the photos.

As an online seller on Shopee for the last three years, Nguyễn Mỹ Bình, who sells contact lens said: “There are more and more sellers on e-commerce sites, I must spend more on virtual tools, but I have more customers."

According to e-commerce reports in 2019 by Google and Temasek, with an average growth rate of 38 per cent, Việt Nam's e-commerce sector reached a value of US$12 billion and the scale of local e-commerce could reach $43 billion by 2025.

"At that time, the level of competition will be even more fierce," said Bình.

"Sellers will not only need to spend on promotion but also on improving their sales skills and providing a more interesting platform to attract customers.”

On the occasion of the Chinese Singles Day, which falls on November 11 every year, Nguyễn Thị Thuý Hằng, Chief Marketing Officer, Lazada Vietnam told Việt Nam News: “Lazada has hosted thousands of livestream episodes, attracting more than 1 million viewers a day on some special days."

According to the report from regional research firm iPrice Group, Southeast Asia entered the era of 'shoppertainment', a form of shopping combined with entertainment, last year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, iPrice said local e-commerce sites were increasing livestream and gaming activities on mobile apps to increase consumer engagement during social distancing.

In Việt Nam, according to the firm, shoppertainment was launched in Tiki with TikiLive, Shopee with Shopee Feed, Sendo with SenLive and Lazada with Lazlive.

As a pioneering e-commerce platform with shoppertainment since last March, Lazada says Lazlive offers livestream shopping, games to collect coins to redeem gifts or discount codes and music programmes to keep shoppers entertained.

Hằng from Lazada said: “Consumers, especially young millennial customers, always want to experience new things so shopping in combination with various forms of entertainment is one of the important factors to influence their buying decisions on e-commerce platforms.”

“In the third quarter, consumers on Lazada tended to prioritise shopping through livestreams to get more visual perspectives on products, receive direct advice from the sellers and get promotion codes for their shopping," the representative added.

Lazada said successful orders via livestream channels in Q3 increased by more than 50 times compared to the same period last year while the brands and sellers' revenue through livestream channel increased more than 420 times from the same period last year.

Similarly, with discount codes, shipping incentives, livestreams and music shows during the sale festival of November 11, local e-commerce site Tiki recorded a 50 per cent increase in sales compared to the last sale festival of October 10 and three times higher than the same festival last year.

A Tiki representative said: "We are extremely excited with the initial positive results of the 11/11 this year.”

According to a newly published report from Google, Temasek and Brain & Company, the size of Việt Nam's e-commerce market in 2020 will reach $7 billion, up 46 per cent compared to 2019.

Last month, Google also released a report called 'Việt Nam’s Search for Tomorrow', saying: “With 68 million internet users, Việt Nam’s internet economy is the second fastest-growing in the region, increasing 39 per cent annually since 2015.”

The report said the trajectory was set to continue, with the Government’s drive toward 100 per cent smartphone penetration through the support of low-cost smartphone production and one of the cheapest data packages in the region.

In terms of online shopping, the report stressed the shopping journey has evolved significantly due to increased internet access and COVID-19, and 83 per cent of Vietnamese now spend more time researching products online before making a purchase. — VNS