Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]

VN E-Commerce Report 2014

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 99

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I: MANAGEMENT OF E-COMMERCE ACTIVITIES


I. LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR E-COMMERCE APPLICATION IN VIETNAM ........... 5
II. INTRODUCTION OF NEW LEGAL DOCUMENTS CONCERNING TO E-
COMMERCE ACTIVITIES ....................................................................................................... 9
1. The Investment Law and Enterprises Law 2014 ..................................................................... 9
2. Circular No.47/2014/TT-BCT stipulating on the management of e-commerce websites..... 10
3. Circular No.39/2014/TT-NHNN guiding on the intermediary payment services ................. 13
III. THE MANAGEMENT OF E-COMMERCE WEBSITES .............................................. 14

CHAPTER II: E-COMMERCE APPLICATION IN COMMUNITY


I. VIETNAM'S B2C MARKET SIZE IN COMPARISON WITH THE WORLD .............. 18
1. United States ......................................................................................................................... 18
2. Korea ..................................................................................................................................... 18
3. China ..................................................................................................................................... 19
4. India ....................................................................................................................................... 20
5. Indonesia ............................................................................................................................... 21
6. Australia ................................................................................................................................ 21
7. Vietnam ................................................................................................................................. 22
II. THE STATUS OF E-COMMERCE APPLICATION IN THE COMMUNITY ............. 23
1. The use of Internet................................................................................................................ 23
2. The use of e-commerce in community ................................................................................. 25
3. The efficiency of applying e-commerce in community ....................................................... 27

CHAPTER III: E-COMMERCE APPLICATION IN ENTERPRISES


I. GENERAL INFORMATION ................................................................................................ 32
1. Types of enterprises .............................................................................................................. 32
2. The business sector of enterprises ......................................................................................... 32
3. The scale of enterprises ......................................................................................................... 32
II. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND HUMAN RESOURCES INFRASTRUCTURE
....................................................................................................................................................... 34
1. Hardware ............................................................................................................................... 34
a. Computer ........................................................................................................................... 34
b. Cost structure for IT and E-commerce .............................................................................. 34
2. Software ................................................................................................................................ 35
3. Online Monitoring System .................................................................................................... 36
4. Email ..................................................................................................................................... 37
5. Staffing for e-commerce........................................................................................................ 38
III. THE TYPES OF TRANSACTIONS AND PAYMENT ON E-COMMENCE............... 40
1. The types of sale .................................................................................................................... 40
a. Social networks .................................................................................................................. 40
b. Enterprises’ websites ......................................................................................................... 40
c. Mobile platform ................................................................................................................. 41
d. E-marketplaces .................................................................................................................. 42
e. The efficiency of the sales channels .................................................................................. 42
2. The payment method ............................................................................................................. 43
3. The privacy policy................................................................................................................. 43
IV. THE STATUS OF E-COMMERCE WEBSITES OPERATION .................................... 44
1. The information update on e-commerce websites................................................................. 44
2. The mobile version of websites ............................................................................................. 44
3. Website functions .................................................................................................................. 45
4. The advertising methods of e-commerce websites ............................................................... 45
V. THE EFFICIENCY OF E-COMMERCE APPLICATION IN ENTERPRISES ............ 48
1. Receiving and placing orders via electronic means .............................................................. 48
2. The revenue of e-commerce enterprises in 2014 ................................................................. 50
VI. THE USE OF PUBLIC ONLINE SERVICE..................................................................... 51
1. The status of online public services usage ............................................................................ 51
2. The evaluation of online public services usage ..................................................................... 51

CHAPTER IV: THE OPERATION STATUS OF E-COMMERCE SERVICE WEBSITES


I. GENERAL INFORMATION ................................................................................................ 53
1. Models and operations .......................................................................................................... 53
2. The investment capital .......................................................................................................... 54
3. Main income of the websites ................................................................................................. 54
4. The supporting utilities and tools .......................................................................................... 54
1
5. Products, sale services on e-commerce service websites ...................................................... 55
6. Human resources ................................................................................................................... 55
7. Payment infrastructure .......................................................................................................... 56
II. THE OPERATION STATUS OF E-COMMERCE WEBSITESIN DIFFERENT TYPES
....................................................................................................................................................... 58
1. E-marketplace........................................................................................................................ 58
a. The sales operation and e-commerce service providing activities in e-martketplaces ...... 58
b. Investment and innovation technology .............................................................................. 59
2. Online promotion websites.................................................................................................... 60
a. Revenue ............................................................................................................................. 60
b. Promotion value................................................................................................................. 61
c. The development of top revenue websites ......................................................................... 62
3. Online auction websites ........................................................................................................ 62
III. SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES AND COMPLAINTS ON THE E-COMMERCE
SERVICE WEBSITES ............................................................................................................... 65
1. Policies and settlement of disputes........................................................................................ 65
2. Control mechanism and content management on the website .............................................. 65
3. Mechanisms for receiving complaints................................................................................... 65

CHAPTER V: THE STATUS OF E-COMMERCE SALE WEBSITES


I. GENERAL OVERVIEW ....................................................................................................... 68
1. Websites by geography ......................................................................................................... 68
2. Business range ....................................................................................................................... 69
3. Business sectors..................................................................................................................... 69
4. Human resource structure...................................................................................................... 69
5. Investment source .................................................................................................................. 70
6. Products and services on e-commerce sale websites ............................................................ 71

II. STATUS OF E-COMMERCE SALE WEBSITES ........................................................... 72


1. Supporting tools .................................................................................................................... 72
a. Supporting tools on e-commerce sale websites ................................................................. 72
b. Membership registration .................................................................................................... 72
c. Integration of social network ............................................................................................. 73

2
d. Adoption of online payment function ................................................................................ 73
2. Website policies and support services ................................................................................... 74
a. Delivery policy .................................................................................................................. 74
b. Dispute settlement ............................................................................................................. 74
c. Advertising methods .......................................................................................................... 75
III. EXPENSE AND REVENUE OF E-COMMERCE SALE WEBSITE ............................ 77
1. Expense ................................................................................................................................. 77
2. Revenue ................................................................................................................................. 77

CHAPTER VI: E-COMMERCE IN MOBILE PLATFORM


I. E-COMMERCE ON MOBILE PLATFORM ..................................................................... 82
1. Model B2C ............................................................................................................................ 83
2. Model C2C ............................................................................................................................ 84
II. BANKING SERVICES – MOBILE PAYMENT................................................................ 86
1. Electronic payment services on mobile ................................................................................. 86
2. E-banking services based on mobile devices ........................................................................ 87
III. INTERACTIVE SERVICES IN MOBILE ........................................................................ 89
1. Taxi booking service ............................................................................................................. 89
2. Services providing vouchers, coupons, membership cards ................................................... 90
IV. DIGITAL CONTENT SERVICES ..................................................................................... 92
1. Digital content business on mobile devices .......................................................................... 92
2. Digital map on mobile devices .............................................................................................. 93
V.APPLICATIONS AND GAMES ON MOBILE ................................................................... 94
1. Mobile application................................................................................................................. 94
2. Games on mobile devices ...................................................................................................... 95

3
CHAPTER I
MANAGEMENT OF E-COMMERCE ACTIVITIES

4
I. LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR E-COMMERCE APPLICATION IN VIETNAM
E-commerce is basically defined as the application of electronic means in business and
commerce. The subjects of e-commerce activities have to comply with the provisions on e-
commerce as well as the other relevant related to the investment, commercial, civil provisions…

On 26 November 2014, regarding the legal framework of business, the National Assembly of
Vietnam passed two new laws: Law No.67/2014/QH13 on Investment (Investment Law 2014)
and Law No.68/2014/QH13 on Enterprises (Enterprise Law 2014), both will take effect from 01
July 2015. Regarding the specialized provisions of e-commerce, on 05 December 2014, the
Ministry of Industry and Trade promulgated Circular No.47/2014/TT-BCT stipulating on the
management of e-commerce websites. 2014 has been a remarkable year for the appearance of
these two laws and Circular No.47/2014/TT-BCT with many changes on the legal framework of
e-commerce activities in Vietnam1.

Figure 1: Updating the basic legal framework on e-commerce in Vietnam 2014


Time Law
21/12/1999 Penal Code
14/6/2005 Civil Code
14/6/2005 Commercial Law
29/11/2005 Law on Electronic Transactions
29/06/2006 Law on Information Technology
23/11/2009 Law on Telecommunication
19/6/2009 Law on amending and supplementing several articles of the
Penal Code, No. 37/2009/QH12
21/6/2012 Law on Advertising
26/11/2014 Law on Investment
26/11/2014 Law on Enterprises
Decree to provide guidance on law Over ridding texts
15/02/2007 Decree No. 26/2007/ND-CP guiding the implementation of the E-transactions Law
E-transaction Law on digital signature and C/A services
23/02/2007 Decree No.27/2007/ND-CP on electronic E-transactions Law
transactions in financial activities
08/03/2007 Decree No.35/2007/ND-CP on electronic transactions in E-transactions Law
banking activities
13/08/2008 Decree No.90/2008/ND-CP on anti-spam E-transactions
06/04/2011 Decree No. 25/2011/ND-CP detailing and guiding the Telecommunication
implementation of some articles of the Law on Law

1
Introduction of related legal documents are provided in part II of this report
5
Telecommunication
13/06/2011 Decree No. 43/2011/ND-CP detailing regulations on the IT
provision of online information and services on websites or e-
portals of State agencies
23/11/2011 Decree No. 106/2011/ND-CP amending and supplementing E-transactions
Decree No. 26/2007/ND-CP on Digital Signature and
Certification Authority services
5/10/2012 Decree No. 77/2012/ND-CP amending and supplementing E-transactions
Decree No. 90/2008/ND-CP on Anti-spam
22/11/2012 Decree No 101/2012/ND-CP on non-cash payment (supersedes IT Law
Decree No.64/2001/ND-CP on payment operations via the
payment service providers)
16/5/2013 Decree No. 52/2013/ND-CP on E-commerce E-transactions
15/7/2013 Decree No. 72/2013/ND-CP on management, provision and IT Law
use of Internet services and online information
08/11/2013 Decree No.154/2013/ND-CP stipulation on the concentrated IT Law
zones of information technology
13/11/2013 Decree No.170/2013/ND-CP amending, supplementing some E-transactions
articles of Decree No.26/2007/ND-CP dated 15 February 2007
of the Government detailing on implementation of Law on
Electronic Transactions on Digital signature and certification
services of digital signature services and Decree
No.106/2011/ND-CP dated 23 November 2011 of the
Government amending and supplementing some articles of
Decree No.26/2007/ND-CP dated 15 February 2007.
14/11/2013 Decree No. 181/2013/ND-CP detailing some articles of Law on Advertising Law
Advertising
Decree on handling administrative violations Over riding texts

12/11/2013 Decree No. 158/2013/ND-CP on sanctioning administrative


violations in culture, sport, tourism and advertising.
13/11/2013 Decree No. 174/2013/ND-CP on sanctioning administrative
violations in the fields of posts, telecommunications,
information technology and radio frequency.
15/11/2013 Decree No. 185/2013/ND-CP on sanctioning administrative
violations in commercial activities, production, trading
counterfeit or prohibited goods and protection of the
consumers’ rights
07/4/2014 Decree No.25/2014/ND-CP on the preventing, combating
crimes and other violations of law using higt technologies
Circular guiding the implementation of some provisions in Overriding texts
the decrees
15/09/2008 Circular No.78/2008/TT-BTC guiding the implementation of Decree No.
27/2007/ND-CP
6
several provisions of Decree No.27/2007/ND-CP of 23
February 2007 on e-transactions in the financial activities
30/12/2008 Circular No. 12/2008/TT-BTTTT guiding the implementation Decree
of several provisions of Decree No. 90/2008/ND-CP on Anti- No.90/2008/ND-CP
spam
02/03/2009 Circular No. 03/2009/TT-BTTTT stipulating the codes of Decree
management and the certification templates of these code for e- No.90/2008/ND-CP
mail, messages and Internet messages advertisement service
providers.
16/03/2009 Circular No. 50/2009/TT-BCT guiding on electronic Decree
transactions on the stock market. No.27/2007/ND-CP
31/07/2009 Circular No. 26/2009/TT-BTTTT stipulating the provision of Decree
information on and assurance of access to government No.64/2007/ND-CP
agencies’ websites
14/12/2009 Circular No. 37/2009/TT-BTTTT stipulating procedures and Decree
required documents for the registration, licensing, and No.26/2007/ND-CP
recognition of digital signature certification authorities
22/07/2010 Circular No.17/2010/TT-BKH detailing pilot Decree
online bidding No.26/2007/ND-CP
28/9/2010 Circular No.153/2010/TT-BCT guiding the implementation of Decree
the Government’s Decree No.51/2010/ND-Cp dated 14 May No.51/2010/ND-CP
2010 stipulating on the form of invoice selling goods and
providing services
9/11/2010 Circular No. 23/2010/TT-NHNN stipulating the managements, Decree
operations and use of inter-bank electronic payment system No.35/2007/ND-CP
10/11/2010 Circular No. 180/2010/TT-BTC guiding Decree
instructions on electronic transactions in the sector No.27/2007/ND-CP
of taxation
15/11/2010 Circular No. 25/2010/TT-BTTTT stipulating the collection, Decree
use, share, safety assurance and protection of personal No.64/2007/ND-CP
information on websites or e-portals of State agencies
20/12/2010 Circular No. 209/2010/TT-BTC stipulating electronic Decree
transactions in the professional operations of the State Bank. No.27/2007/ND-CP
14/3/2011 Circular No. 32/2011/TT-BTC guiding the creation, issuance Decree
and use of electronic invoices for goods sales and service No.27/2007/ND-CP
provision
10/9/2012 Joint Circular No.10/2012/TTLT-BCA-BQPBTP-BTTTT- Penal Code
VKSNDTC-TANDTC guiding the provisions of Penal Code on
some violations in the fields of information technology and
communication
05/12/2014 Circular No.47/2014/TT-BCT stipulating on the management Decree
of e-commerce websites (replaced Circular No.12/2013/TT- No.52/2013/ND-CP
BCT stipulating the procedures for notifying, registering and

7
publicizing information related to e-commerce websites)

11/12/2014 Circular No.39/2014/TT-NHNN guiding on the Decree


intermediary payment services No.101/2012/ND-
CP

8
II. INTRODUCTION OF NEW LEGAL DOCUMENTS CONCERNING TO E-
COMMERCE ACTIVITIES
1. The Investment Law and Enterprises Law 2014
The Enterprises Law 2014 has various key changes in the concepts compared to the Enterprises
Law 2005, reflecting the right of freedom of enterprises in the Constitution 2013 when
conducting business. According to the Constitution, the enterprises have the right and may do
what the law does not prohibit2.

Figure 2: Introduction of the Enterprises Law 2014

No. Some new regulations of the Enterprises Law 2014

1 The procedures for establishment of enterpries will be separated with others on the
investment projects, investment certificate and creating opportunities for enterprises to
join the market.

2 The provisions of providing the sector code when registering business will be
deregulated. It means the enterprises have the right to do business and actively select the
forms, the sectors as well as the geographic when conducting business and they may also
self-actively adjust the scale of sectors and businesses.

3 According to the development trends in the means of electronic transactions, the use of
seals are significant reformed in this law. The enterprises have the right to decide on the
form, the number and the content of their seals accordance with the law; at the same time,
the enterprises are obliged to inform their seal forms to the business registration agency to
publicize on the National portal of business registration. According to this law, not all the
business texts have to be sealed but only on those texts that prescribed by law or required
by the partners.

4 The provisions on the proportion of state holding in the state enterprises now changing
from 50% to 100% of the charter capital.

2
Quote of the Ministry of Justice Gazette on 03 December 2014 at the Portal of Justice
9
There are 07 chapters and 76 articles in the Investment Law 2014, a part thereof has several new
changes ensuring that the legal framework are wide-open and attractive to the investment,
contributing a transparent environment, ensuring the interests of the holders and creating the best
benefit for the social and economic development.

The standing concept in the Investment Law 2014 consist of provisions which related to the
principle of freedom of business, as enterprises will have the right to conduct freely business in
sectors which are not prohibited by law.

The Investment Law 2014 gathers and governs the list of conditional and prohibited business
sectors according to the methods of exclusion, which has contributed to innovate the basic
principles of application in recent law. According to this law, the investors have the right to
conduct business freely in any sectors not prohibited by law, which has changed from the
principal provisions of investors could only conducting business that accepted by law3.

2. Circular No.47/2014/TT-BCT stipulating on the management of e-commerce websites


On 5 December 2014, the Ministry and Industry and Trade promulgated Circular
No.47/2014/TT-BCT, stipulating on the management of e-commerce websites, guiding some
regulations of the Decree No. 52/2013/ND-CP on E-commerce, which was promulgated by the
Government dated 16 May 2013. This Circular takes effect from 20 January 2015 and replaces
the Circular No.12/2013/TT-BCT stipulating the procedures for notifying, registering and
publicizing information related to e-commerce websites.

Figure 3: Approaching in formulating Circular No. 47/2014/TT-BCT

Remaining some provisions of Circular No. 12/2013/TT-BCT


1. Provisions on the procedures for
2. Provisions on publicizing information
notifying, registering related to e-
related to e-commerce websites
commerce websites

Adding some new provisions


1. Enhancing the management of business activites on
e-commerce websites, social-network websites, online 3. Enhancing the management
sale promotion websites. of conditional and prohibited
2. Allocating the management scope of specific goods on the e-commerce
websites. websites.
4. Other provisions
3
Quote of the Ministry of Justice Gazette on 8 December 2014 at the Portal of Justice
10
Besides the remaining provisions of Circular No. 12/2013/TT-BCT on the procedures for
notifying, registering and publicizing information related to e-commerce websites, the Circular
No. 47 details certain provisions of the Decree No. 52/2013/ND-CP which related to: the
management of business on e-commerce websites, including the clearance of the responsibilities
to specific websites; the business operations of conditional or prohibited goods on e-commerce
websites; the management of the social-commerce websites.

Figure 4: Responsibilities of traders or organizations for notifying, registering or licensing


to the Ministry of Industry and Trade

E-COMMERCE ADMINISTRATION PORTAL


WWW.ONLINE.GOV.VN

NOTIFYING REGISTERING LICENSING

Evaluation and
Sales e- E-commerce certification of
commerce services policy on personal
websites websites information
protection in e-
commerce
E-commerce websites
which have both forms
Trust evaluation
of operations: sales e- of e-commerce E-contract
commerce websites and websites certification
e-commerce services
websites

11
Figure 5: Allocating responsibility for management of specific websites

Websites in the fields Websites providing online


of services such as
finance, banking, cred game, betting or
it and insurance Websites trading or gambling
exchanging
money, gold, foreign
exchange and other
means of payment

Circular No.47/2014/TT-BCT does not apply to these websites. These


websites are governed by their respective specialized laws

Figure 6: Management of social-commerce websites

The owners of social-network


websites which allow participants
to establish the sub-web to
display or introduce
goods/services in their websites.
The owners of social-network The owners of social-network
websites which allow websites have the trading category
participants to establish e-kiosk which allow participants to display
to display or introduce goods/services
goods/services in their websites.

REGISTERING E-MARKETPLACES

12
Figure 7: Management of conducting conditional and restricted goods or services on e-
commerce websites

Subjects Sales e-commerce E-commerce services websites


websites
CONDUCTING RESTRICTED GOODS
Traders, Not allowed Not allowed
organizations,
individuals
CONDUCTING CONDITIONAL GOODS OR SERVICES
Individuals Not allowed Not allowed
Traders, Being allowed to set up e- - Being allowed to use e-commerce services
organizations commerce sales websites websites for conducting the conditional
for conducting the goods and services
conditional goods and -Conforming the condition of the conditional
services and publicizing on goods and services as prescribed by law.
the websites the number,
date and place of issue of
business certification of The owners of e-commerce services websites
these goods and services as in this case have to meet the responsibilities
prescribed by law as follows:
- Requesting the sellers to provide the
certification of eligibility for business when
conducting the conditional goods and
services as prescribed by law

- Removing from the websites, the


information of which trading goods or
services violated the law when self-detected
or received the authentication feedbacks
from the customers. (…4)

3. Circular No.39/2014/TT-NHNN guiding on the intermediary payment services


On 11 December 2014, The State Bank of Vietnam promulgated Circular No.39/2014/TT-
NHNN guiding on the intermediary payment services. This Circular takes effect from 01 March
2015, in order to guiding some provisions of the intermediary payment services which governed
in Decree No. 101/2012/ND-CP dated 11 December 2012 on non-cash payment.

4
Responsibilities of the owners of e-commerce services websites are governed in Article 4 of the Circular
No.47/2014/TT-BCT
13
Figure 8: The type of intermediary payment services

TYPE OF INTERMEDIARY PAYMENT SERVICES

Services of providing e-payment Services of support payment


infrastructure services

Financial Electronic E-payment Support Support E-wallet


switch clearing gateway services on services on services
services services services revenue and money transfer
expenditure services

LICENSING

Circular No.39/TT-NHNN clarifying the type of intermediary payment services and providing
specific provisions related to these services, including: the risk management, safety and security;
fiscal solvency; e-wallet activities. The intermediary service providers have to comply with the
provisions of the risk management, safety, security as follows:

- Developing and implementing the principles of risk management in electronic banking;

- Ensuring safety and security of information technology systems in banking activities;


safety and security for providing electronic banking services;

- Compliance with the provisions of banking services on the establishment, use,


preservation and storage of electronic communications in the Law on Electronic Transactions.

III. THE MANAGEMENT OF E-COMMERCE WEBSITES


After one year of implementing Decree No. 52/2013/ND-CP, there were 7,814 enterprises’
accounts and 3,418 individual’s accounts approved via the E-commerce Administration Portal.
The data of websites were notified and registered on this Portal in 2014 as follow:
- The numbers of registration e-commerce services websites were 1,112 websites, the
numbers which were confirmed till the end of December 2014 reaching 357 websites.
14
- The numbers of notification sales e-commerce websites were 9,075 websites, the
numbers which were confirmed till the end of December 2014 reaching 5,082 websites.

Figure 9: Numbers of notification and registration e-commerce websites via the E-


commerce Administration Portal in 2014

Figure 10: Numbers of registration e-commerce services websites were confirmed

283 2013 2014

90
60
13 13 14

E-marketplaces Online sale promotion websites Online auction websites

Figure 11: Popular violations according to consumers’ feedback on E-commerce


Administration Portal
No. Violations Percentage rate
(%)
2013 2014

1 Conducting e-commerce website without any notification or 62,3% 87%


registration

15
2 Organizing marketing and promotion network for e-commerce 20,3% 1,3%
services in which each participants shall have to pay an initial
amount of money to buy services and receive commission, bonus
or other economic benefits from mobilizing others join the
network
3 Violation of information on e-commerce websites 7,2% 4,5%

4 Using link website to provide conflicting or incorrect information 4,3% 2,2%


compared with published information in website areas to which
are linked this link
5 Trading counterfeit or prohibited goods 2,9% 3,5%

6 Violation of transactions on e-commerce websites (eg: payment 1,6% 1%


fraud)
7 Making corrupt use of e-commerce websites’ operating to raise 1,4% 0,5%
capital illegally from other traders, organizations and individuals

In 2014, the complaints via the E-commerce Administration Portal reflected primarily on the
operation of e-commerce websites without any notification or registration to the Ministry of
Industry and Trade (87%). The rest of complaints (13%) were scattered related on providing
violated information (4.5 %) and selling counterfeit or prohibited goods (3.5%) on e-commerce
websites…

Figure 12: Implementation of handling administrative violations on e-commerce


in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in 2014
No. City Number of cases Fines

1 Ho Chi Minh City 62 VND 1.22 billion

2 Hanoi 39 VND 769 million

In 2014, the inspection, examination and handling of the administrative violations on e-


commerce were primarily implemented in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The total number of
examined and processed cases in these two cities was 101, total administrative fines are
approximately VND 2 billion. The violation cases were mainly related to the activities of setting
up e-commerce websites as prescribed in Article 81 Decree No.185/2013/ND-CP on handling of
administrative violations in commercial activities, production and trading counterfeit and
prohibited goods and protection of consumers’ interests.

16
CHAPTER II
E-COMMERCE APPLICATION IN COMMUNITY

17
I. VIETNAM’S B2C MARKET SIZE IN COMPARISON WITH THE WORLD
1. United States
The Census Bureau of the Department of Ecommerce announced that the estimate of online retail
sales for the first 3 quarters of 2014 was 224.3 billion US dollars, and the total online retail sales
of 2014 could reach 305.5 billion dollars. In the third quarter of 2014, the online retail sale was
estimated to increase by 4% comparing to the second quarter, and up 16.2% comparing with the
same period last year. Online retail sales of this quarter accounted for 6.1% of the total retail
sales of US in the third quarter.

Figure 13: The B2C retail sale of United States of Q3 2014

Source: Census Bureau – United States Department of Commerce (billion USD)

2. Korea
The regular Online Shopping Report by Statistics Korea in quarter 3 2014 announced that the
online transaction value increased 17.8% from the third quarter 2013, which recorded 11.4
thousand billion won (equivalent to US $ 10.5 billion)5. E-commerce sale accounted for 12.8%
of total sale, increased from 10.9% in quarter 3 2013.

Compared to the third quarter 2013, the share of online shopping for “Travel arrangement and
reservation services”, “Household goods, motor vehicle parts and accessories”, and “Home
electric appliances, electronic and telecommunication equipment” grew by 2.5%, 0.9%, and
0.5%, respectively. The share for “Food and beverages”, “Computer and computer-related
appliances”, “Agricultural and fishery products” experienced the slight decrease, but still among
the most popular group of commodity.

5
Converted at the exchange rate of $1 = Won 1088.33
18
Figure 14: B2C e-commerce sales in Korea of Q3 2014

10.6 20%
17,8%
10.4 18%
16,6%
16%
10.2 10,46
14,4% 14%
10 12%
9.8 9,72 10%
9,61
9.6 8%
6%
9.4
4%
9.2 2%
9 0%
Q1 Q2 Q3

Online retail sales ( billion USD) Growth rate comparing to same period last year

Source: GSO Korea

3. China
According to the report on China E-Commerce Market of eMarketer, online retail sales of this
country grew 63.9% over the previous year, with the expected sales of 217.39 billion. This
growing rate will still be kept until 2018.
According to the report, in 2014, online retail sales in China accounted for more than 50% of the
total revenue of the Asia – Pacific. It is expected that in 2018, this figure will reach 70%.
Also as the content of the 33th Report on the development of Internet China data on the
development of 33 of the Internet’s Network Information Center of China Internet, the number
of online shoppers in the country at present is 302 million people. According to a survey of
Group M in June 2014, nearly 75% of online shoppers said they prefer buying online in brick-
and-mortal stores.

19
Figure 15: Revenue from online retail sales in China 2013-20186

600 100%
527,06
90%
87,1%
500 455,88 80%

377,24 70%
400
63,9%
60%
298,38
300 50%
217,39 40%
37,3%
200
132,61 30%
26,4%
20,8% 20%
100 15,6%
10%
0 0%
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

B2C retail sales (billion USD) The growth rate

Source: www.eMarketer.com

4. India
According to the statistic of Internetworldstats, in 2014, the number of Internet users in India
was at around 195 million people, accounted 15.8% of the population. As eMarketer announced,
the number of online shoppers was 30 million people. The growth in e-commerce transactions in
2014 was 31.5%, B2C retail sales reached 20.7 billion USD. eMarketer said that each Indian
spent 691 USD for online shopping.

Figure 16: Growth rate of online retail sale in India 2012-2017


35,9% 34,9% 31,5% 30,3%
24,5%
20%

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Source: www.eMarketer.com

6
The data include products and services that were ordered via the Internet using any devices, regardless of
payment method or manner of implementation; not include travel; not include Hong Kong.

20
5. Indonesia

Indonesia was the 4th populated country in the world, with an estimated population of 253
million in 2014. Of which, there was 29.8% of the population, equivalent to about 74.6 million
people using Internet7 . According to eMarketer, the number of Internet users in Indonesia was
growing at an average rate of 20% a year in the period of 2013-2016. Currently, about 5.9
million people had been shopping online at least once.

As eMarketer predicted, online retail sales in Indonesia in 2014 would reach 2.6 billion USD,
accounting for 0.6% of total annual retail sales.

These items were most popular for online shopping in Indonesia including clothing, shoes,
handbags, watches, airline tickets, cell phones, gadgets for cars.

Figure 17: Growth in retail sales in Indonesia 2012-2017


85%
73%
45.10%
37.20% 26%
22%

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Source: www.eMarketer.com

6. Australia
According to Online Retail Sales Index by the National Bank Australia (NAB) announced, the
online retail sales in Australia increased from 14.9 billion USD in 2013 to 16.3 billion USD in
2014. Online retail sales were accounted for approximately 6.6% of total retail sales in Australia.
According to NAB, products and services such as communications, food, fashion, were shopped
the most in this country. The item that currently had the highest growth rate was toys and games,
up 39.4% in November, though accounted to only 3% of share of the online retail market.

7
Data Miniwatts Marketing Group in 2014 in www.internetworldstats.com

21
Figure 18: Growth of online shopping in Australia 2014

13,1% 14,4%

11,8% 12,1%
10,2%
9%
8,3% 8,3%
6,7%

5,1%
3,9%

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov

Source: National Bank Australia

7. Vietnam
According to the survey by Vietnam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency
(VECITA) in 2014, online purchasing of each person a year was estimated at about 145 USD,
and B2C sales revenues reached 2.97 billion USD, accounting for 2, 12% of total retail sales.

Products that were chosen the most are furniture and electronic technology (60%), fashion and
cosmetics (60%), appliances (34%), books, stationery (31%) and some other items. In Vietnam,
most of online shoppers, after ordering, still chose cash payments (64%), the form of payment
via electronic wallet accounts for 37%, and the form of payment via bank accounts for 14%.

Figure 19: Estimated sales of B2C in Vietnam 2014

Population Population Estimated value Percentage of Estimated


of VN 2014 using the of online Internet access revenues from
Internet purchases of each participating in B2C in 2014
person in 2014 online shopping

90.73 39% 145 USD 58% 2.97 billion


million 8

8
According to GSO "socio-economic situation in 2014" - www.gso.gov.vn
22
II. THE STATUS OF E-COMMERCE APPLICATION IN THE COMMUNITY
In 2014, VECITA – Ministry of Industry and Trade surveyed the status of e-commerce
application with more than 900 Internet users in the country. Most of survey questionnaires were
answered online and filled in the form directly. All the data and analysis in this section was
drawn from the result of the survey mentioned above.
1. The use of Internet
According to a survey of VECITA with more than 900 internet users in the whole country, 10%
of correspondents replied that they use Internet less than 3 hours per day. 36% used Internet 3-5
hours per day.

Figure 20: Frequency of Internet using per day


36%

21%
17% 15%
10%

Under3 3giờ
Dưới Từ33-5- 5hrs
giờ Từ5 5- 7hrs
- 7 giờ Từ 7 - 9 giờ Trên 9 giờ
hrs 7 – 9 hrs Above 9 hrs

The period that people accessed Internet the most was from 8pm to 12am (53%), followed by the
period of 8am to 12am (24%), and 4pm to 8pm (13%).

Figure 21: The most crowed time for accessing Internet


53%

24%
13%
9%
1%

8am - 12pm 12pm - 4pm 4pm - 8pm 8pm - 12am 12am - 8am

Laptops and mobile phones continued to be the most popular devices to access Internet, the
proportion was 75% and 65% respectively. The number of people accessing Internet via other
devices, such as tablets, also increased by 19% from 2010 to 2014. Desktops were used to be the
most popular device in 2010, accounting for 84% of users; in 2014, only 33% of respondents
accessed Internet via this device.

23
Figure 22: The device for Internet access

84% 2010 2014


75%
65%

33% 38%
27%
19%
0%

Desktop Laptop Mobile phone Other devices


(Tablet)

90% of respondents said that their most frequent location for Internet access was at home. The
second most frequent one was workplace (48%). The public place, school, and Internet store
took the corresponding proportion as 22%, 16% and 5%.
Figure 23: Location of Internet access

90%

48%

16% 22%
5% 8%

At Tại
homenhà At work
Tại chỗ làm Tại
At trường
school họcTại cửa Điểm
hàng
Internet Internet
công cộng
store (nhàplaces
Public hàng, kháchChỗ
sạn…)
khác
Others
(restaurants,...)

Update information continued to be the major purpose of using Internet daily, up from 87% in
2013 to 93% in 2014. The majority of respondents used Internet to participate in forums, social
network (81%), to access email (73%), to watch movies, listen to music (64%), and to research
(63%). For activities such as personal purchases, most of respondents operated monthly (36%).

24
Figure 24: Frequency of using Internet for activities
25.6%
Others
Hoạt động khác 20.7%
19.8% Không dùng
Not use
33.9%

26.9% Háng tháng


Monthly
Individual purchase 36.2%
Mua bán cá nhân 20.5%
16.3% Hàng tuần
Weekly

3.6% Hàng
Dailyngày
Tham gia diễn
Participate đàn, mạng
in forum, socialxã 4.3%
hội
network 10.8%
81.2%

0.6%
Access email 7.0%
Truy cập email 18.7%
73.8%

36.2%
Play games
Chơi game 12.1%
18.6%
33.1%

1.5%
XemWatch
phim, movies
ảnh, nghe nhạc 7.7%
26.1%
, photos, listen to music 64.8%

1.6%
Nghiên cứu,
Research học tập
& Study 5.8%
28.7%
63.9%

0.5%
Update
cậpinformation
nhật thông tin 1.2%
4.8%
93.5%

2. The use of e-commerce in community


Results of the survey of VECITA with people shopping online in 2014 showed that 58% of
Internet users purchased online.

Figure 25: People participating in online shopping

58%
42%

Already Not yet

25
The type of goods which were purchased online the most, was toys and electronics technology,
accounted for 60%, increased 25% comparing with 2013. The items which were popular with
online shoppers were clothing, shoes, cosmetics (60%), household appliances (34%), books and
stationery (31%)...
Figure 26: Popular online products on e-commerce websites

Professional services 5%
(training, consultant…) 10% 2014

Spa & Beauty services 5% 2013


11%

Music/ Video/ DVD/ Game 14%


12%

Tour & hotel booking 21%


16%

Movie ticket, concert ticket… 23%


19%

Books, stationery 31%


20%

Food 18%
20%

Air tickets 25%


25%

Kitchen & home appliances 34%


32%

Technology 60%
35%

Clothes, shoes, cosmetics 60%


62%

The survey results also indicated that 71% of respondents purchasing online through websites
that sold goods / services, up 10% compared to 2013. The number of people using the social
network websites for online shopping purpose increased from 45% in 2013 to 53% in 2014. The
number of people that purchased items via group buying websites, fell sharply from 51% in 2013
to 35% in 2014. 25% of respondents said that they purchased via e-marketplace and 13% via
applications on mobile.

26
Figure 27: Online purchase methods

71%
2013 2014
61%

51% 53%
45%

35%

25%
19%
13%
6% 4%
0%

Sale e-commerce E-marketplaces Group-buying Social network Mobile Other methods


websites websites websites Application

Cash was a major payment method in online transaction (64% of respondents), though decreased
10% comparing with 2013. Bank transfer also fell from 41% in 2013 to 14% in 2014. Instead of
that, the number of people using electronic wallet increased from 8% in 2013 to 37% in 2014.

Figure 28: Payment methods in online shopping


74%
64% 2013 2014

37% 41%

14%
8% 9% 11% 11% 7%
0 1%

Cash on Electronic Bank transfer Mobile/ Payable cards Other


delivery wallet Games cards methods

3. The efficiency of applying e-commerce in community


The survey's result showed that 6% of online purchasers were very satisfied. 41% were satisfied,
which increased significantly from 29% in 2013. 48% felt neutral and only 5% were dissatisfied.

27
Figure 29: Satisfaction of online purchasers

62%
2013 2014
48%
41%

29%

5% 6% 4% 5%

Very satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied

According to the survey's results, 40% of online shoppers bought less than 5 products in 2014,
29% purchased from 5 to 10 products and 17% purchased above 15 products.
Figure 30: Estimated number of products/services each individual shopping online in 2014

40%

29%

17%
14%

Dưới 55
Under Từ5 5- 10
- 10 Từ1010- 15
- 15 Trên
Above1515

29% of buyers chose to purchase item with price from 1 to 3 million. Following was the price
above 5 million with 26% of people chose to buy, and the least was from 3 to 5 million (11%).

Figure 31: Estimated value of each individual online shopping in 2014

29%
26%
21%
14%
11%

Dưới Under
5 trăm nghìn Từ 5500,000
trăm nghìn
- Từ 1,000,000
1 triệu đến- 3 Từ3,000,000
3 triệu đến- 5 Trên 5Above
triệu đồng
đồng
500,000vnd đến 1 triệu đồng
1,000,000vnd triệu đồng
3,000,000vnd triệu đồng
5,000,000vnd 5,000,000vnd

28
The survey also indicated that the reputation of the seller or the website was the most important
factor with online shoppers, 740 respondents selected this factor, corresponding to the ratio of
81%. 80% of shoppers concerned about price, followed by order, payment and delivery methods
(68%), and the brand of products and services (64%).
Figure 32: The consideration factors of online shopping

80% 81%
64% 68%

23%

Giá cả
Price Thương hiệuof
Brands của sản Reputation
Uy tín của người
of the Cách thức
Order, đặt
payment Thiết kế củadesign
Website website
phẩm/dịch
products/ vụ bán/website bán
seller/ website hàng and
hàng, delivery
thanh toán và
services giao nhận hàng hóa
methods

According to respondents, the greatest obstacle of online shopping was the quality of products
or services worse than being advertised (81%). Next was unprofessional logistic services (51%),
price not lower than buying in traditional shops or not clear (46%), personal privacy disclosure
(42%), and unprofessional website design (29%).
Figure 33: Obstacles of online shopping

Others 5%
Unprofessional website design 29%
Unprofessional logistic service 51%
Personal privacy disclosure 42%
Complicated order method 27%
Quality of products or services worse than advertised 81%
Price 46%

The reasons why people did not purchase online including: the difficulty in examining quality of
products (78%), not having trusty sellers (57%), not have enough information to make purchase
decisions (46%), not having credit cards or other payable cards (42%), buying in store faster and
easier (38%), complicated online order procedures (26%).
Figure 34: Reasons for people not shopping online
No online buying/ selling 20%
Not having enough information to decide 46%
Difficult to examine quality of priducts 78%
Not having trusty sellers 57%
Low internet connection 7%
Easy and fast to buy in stores 38%
Complicated order procedures 26%
Not having credit card or payable card 42%
Unable to use online shopping functions 8%
Never try 17%

29
However, 97% of respondents would continue to purchase items online in the future, this ratio
was significantly increased comparing with 88% in 2013.
Figure 35: Continue to purchase items online or not

97%

3%

Yes
Có Không
No

30
CHAPTER III
E-COMMERCE APPLICATION IN ENTERPRISES

31
I. GENERAL INFORMATION
In 2014, VECITA – Ministry of Trade and Industry sent the survey questionnaires on the e-
commerce application to 3.538 enterprises nationwide. All figures and analysis in this chapter
reflected the results of this survey.
1. Types of enterprises
Differing from 2013, the limited liability companies accounted for the highest figures (48%),
followed by the joint stock companies (34%). The private companies, companies with foreign
capital and other types of enterprises accounted for 19% of the total surveyed enterprises.
Figure 1: Types of enterprises surveyed in 2014
2% 4% 12% DN tư nhâncompanies
Private
Limied
Công liabitity
ty TNHH
34%
48% Joint
Công ty stock companies
cổ phần

Parnerships
Công ty có vốn đầu tư nước
ngoài

2. The business sector of enterprises


The three sectors having high number of enterprises participating in the survey were wholesale
and retail (23%), construction (21%) and industry (18%). In 2013, the industry sector accounted
for the highest figure (23%), the wholesale and retail took the second place (21%), followed by
construction (17%).
Figure 2: Business sectors of enterprises surveyed in 2014

Lĩnh vực khác


Others 12%
Du lịch, ănfoods
Tourists, uống 8%
Bán buôn, bán
Wholesale, lẻ
retail 23%
Xây dựng
Construction 21%
CNTT, truyền thông
IT, Communication 9%
Giải trí
Entertainment 2%
Vận tải, giao nận
Transportation 10%
Năng lượng, khoáng
Energy, sản
mineral 5%
Tài Finance,
chính, Bất động sản
Real estate 5%
Y tế,
Heathcare, Giáo dục,Training
Education, đào tạo 4%
Nông, lâm, thủy
Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheriessản 9%
Công nghiệp
Industry 18%

3. The scale of enterprises


Similar to the previous years, the scale of enterprises participating in the survey classified into
the number of employees. The large enterprises had more than 300 employees, in contrast with

32
the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). According to the scale of enterprises, 9% of
respondents in the survey were large enterprises; the rest of respondents were SMEs (91%).
Figure 3: The scale of enterprises over years

SME Largenghiệp
Doanh enterprises
lớn

6% 6%
10% 9%
11%

94% 94%
90% 91%
89%

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

33
II. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND HUMAN RESOURCES INFRASTRUCTURE
1. Hardware

a. Computer
According to the survey result in 2014, 98% of enterprises participating in the survey equipped
with private computers (PC) and laptop, 45% of them equipped with tablets.
Figure 4: The number of computers in enterprises in 2014

98%

45%

PC
PCvà lapLaptops
and top Tablets
Máy tính bảng
Tablets

In conformity with the findings, each enterprise had 21 PC/ laptop and 3 tablets on average.
Figure 5: The average of computers in enterprises in 2014

21

PCPCand
và lap top
Laptops Máy tính bảng
Tablets

b. The expense structure for IT and E-commerce


The investment rate of enterprises for IT and E-commerce did not have much difference
compared to the previous years. In 2014, the investment rates were 43% for hardware, 23% for
software and 18% for human resources and training.

34
Figure 6: Cost structure for IT and E-commerce in enterprises over years

15%
Others
Khác 17%
16%

2012 2013 2014


18%
NhânEducation
sự, đào tạo 17%
18%

26%
Software
Phần mềm 24%
23%

41%
Hardware
Phần cứng 42%
43%

2. Software
According to the survey results, two groups of software were most commonly used in business
included accounting, financial software (88%) and human resources management (49%). Some
complicated software required high-level structure of enterprises as Customer Relationship
Management software (CRM), Supply Chain Management software (SCM), Enterprise Resource
Planning software (ERP), were used less commonly with 24%, 22% and 17% respectively.
Figure 7: Rate of enterprises applying software in 2014

Không
No Có
Yes

ERP 83%
17%

CRM 76%
24%

SCM 78%
22%
Accounting, 12%
Kế toán, tài chính
financial 88%

Human
Quản lý nhân sự 51%
49%
resources

35
The e-signature was established in the form of words, letters, numerals, symbols, sounds or other
forms by electronic means, logically attached or associated with a data message and capable of
certifying the person who has signed it as well as the approval of such person to the content of
the signed data message9. According to the findings, the number of enterprises increased over
years from 23% in 2012 to 45% in 2014. The rate of large enterprises using e-signatures was
higher than the rate of SMEs (with 60% and 44% respectively).

Figure 8: The rate of enterprises using e-signature over years


45%

31%
23%

2012 2013 2014

Figure 9: The rate of enterprises using e-signature by scale

60%

44%

SMEs Large Enterprises

3. Online Monitoring System


Enterprises began to approach the automatic system and online monitoring system to check
orders and delivery items. According to the survey results, 22% of enterprises used the system on
business activities.

9
Law on E-transactions 2005
36
Figure 10: The use of online monitoring system

78%

22%

Có Không
Yes No

4. Email
Outstanding advantages such as high speed, cheap price and no geographical distance, email was
the most commonly mean for enterprises on business strategy and daily activities. According to
the survey results in 2014, the number of enterprises having more than 50% employees and using
email on daily activities increased comparing with the last year (24% in 2013 and 35% in 2014).

Figure 11: The use of email in enterprises

Năm
20132013 Năm 2014
2014

51%

40%
35%
25% 25% 24%

Dưới 10%
Under 10% Từ 11 - 50
11-50% Trên
Over50%
50%

In general, the rate of enterprises using email for doing business with customers and suppliers
accounted for the highest figure (67% in 2012, 77% in 2013 and 75% in 2014)

37
Figure 12: Email usage for business purpose in enterprises

Others 23% 2014


Mục đích khác 28%
24% 2013
Contracts 43% 2012
Giaocommitment
kết hợp đồng 42%
37%

Customer services 46%


Chăm sóc khách hàng 51%
52%
59%
Hỗ trợ hợp
Contract đồng
support 52%
46%
75%
Giao dịch
Transaction 77%
67%
56%
Quảng cáo, giới thiệu
Advistising 66%
55%

5. Staffing for e-commerce


The proportion of enterprises having IT and e-commerce specialized staffs slightly decreased
comparing with the previous year (62% in 2014 and 65% in 2013). The number of IT and E-
commerce specialized staffs of each enterprise was 3 people on average.
Figure 13: The proportion of IT and E-commerce specialized staffs over years

65% 62%
51%

20% 23%

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

38
Figure 14: The proportion of IT and E-commerce specialized by business sectors

Others
Khác 63%
Du lịch, ănFoods
Tourism, uống 71%
Bán buôn, bán lẻ
Wholesale, Retail 64%
Xây dựng
Construction 52%
CNTT, truyền thông
IT, Communication 80%
Giải trí
Entertainment 73%
Vận tải, giao nận
Transportation 54%
Năng lượng, khoáng
Energy, sản
mineral 65%
Tài Finance,
chính, Bất động
Real sản
estate 75%
Y tế,
Heathcare, Giáo dục,Training
Education, đào tạo 69%
Nông,
Agriculure, lâm, thủy
forestry, sản
fishiers 56%
CôngIndustry
nghiệp 70%

Regarding the difficulties on IT and E-commerce specialized staff recruitment, 27% of


respondents said yes, 73% of respondent said no.
Figure 15: The difficulty on IT and E-commerce specialized staff recruitment

73%

27%

Yes
Có No
Không

39
III. THE TYPES OF TRANSACTIONS AND PAYMENT ON E-COMMENCE
1. The types of sale

a. Social networks
Regarding the findings, 24% of respondents had already participated in the social networks and
8% of respondents will participate in 2015.
Figure 16: The rate of enterprises selling on social networking

68%

24%
8%

Có Không Sẽ bán trong 2014


Participating Not participate Going to participating

b. Enterprises’ websites
The number of website owners in 2014 was 45%. Of which, the enterprises on IT and
communication had the highest rate (69%).
Figure 17: The rate of enterprises owning websites over years

DN sẽ xây dựnggoing
Enterprises website trong websites
to have 2014

Enterprises
DN có website having websites

21% 11% 9% 9%

11%

42% 43% 45%


38%
30%

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

40
Figure 18: Enterprises owning websites by business sectors

Lĩnh vực khác


Others 46%
Du lịch, ăn
Tourism, uống
Foods 64%
Bán buôn,Retail
Wholesale, bán lẻ 40%
Xây dựng
Construction 22%
CNTT,
IT, truyền thông
Communication 69%
Giải trí
Entertainment 60%
Vận tải, giao nhận
Transportation 41%
Năng lượng, khoáng
Energy, sản
mineral 34%
Tài chính, Bất
Finance, Realđộng sản
estate 58%

Heathcare,YEducation,
tế, Giáo dục, đào tạo
Training 59%
Nông,
Agriculure, lâm, fishiers
forestry, thủy sản 44%
Công nghiệp
Industry 55%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

c. Mobile platform
E-commerce in mobile platform kept approaching retail sector, changing role as communication
channels to interaction channels between retailers and customers. The survey on the usage of
apps on mobile platform for trading purpose, 11% of respondents had already used apps on
mobile platform for trading.
Figure 19: The usage of apps on mobile flat forms for trading purpose

8% 11%
CóYes

No
Không

SẽGoing
sử dụngtotrong
usenăm
in
81% 2014
2014

41
d. E-marketplace
The rate of enterprises participated e-marketplaces in 2014, slightly increased comparing with
the previous years.
Figure 20: The percentage of enterprises participating E-marketplaces over years

15%
14%
12% 12%

9%

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

e. The efficiency of the sales channels


Regarding the efficiency of the sales channels including social networks, websites, mobile
platform and e-marketplaces, enterprises highly evaluated the effectiveness of social networking
and websites (66% and 71% of respondents gave high or moderate marks for two channels).
Figure 21: The effectiveness of sales channels

16% 13% 16%


23%

44% 44% High


Cao
50%
48%
Morderate
Trung bình
Thấp
Low
34% 43% 40%
29%

Trên cácnetworks
Social mạng xã hội TrênWebsites
website của TrênMobile
các ứng dụng di
apps Trên các sàn thương
E-marketplaces
Social networks
doanh nghiệp động mại điện tử

42
2. The payment method
The main payment method in enterprises was money transfer (90% over recent years). The
second common payment method was cards (20% in 2014), e-wallets (6% in 2014) and scratch
cards (3% in 2014).
Figure 22: The payment method

2012 2013 2014

97%
90% 94%

39%
19% 20%
7% 3% 6% 4% 3% 3%

Money transfer
Chuyển khoản VíE-wallets
điện tử Cardstoán
Thẻ thanh Scratch
Thẻ càocards

3. Privacy policy
Most of enterprises had the privacy policy. In 2014, 80% of enterprises adopted privacy policy
comparing with 73% of 2013.
Figure 23: The privacy policy

77% 73% 80%


63%
53%

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

43
IV. THE STATUS OF E-COMMERCE WEBSITES OPERATION
1. The information update on e-commerce websites
52% of respondents updated information daily on their websites. Hanoi got the highest number
of enterprises which daily updated on their websites (52%).
Figure 24: Frequency of information updates on websites in 2014

52%

32%
16%

Daily
Hàng ngày Hàng tuần
Weekly Hàng tháng
Yearly
Weekly

Figure 25: Frequency of information updates on websites over the years

2012 2013 2014


50% 54% 52%
32%
24% 21% 19% 18% 16%

Daily
Hàng ngày Hàng tuần
Weekly Monthly
Hàng tháng
Monthly

Figure 26: Frequency of information updates on E-commerce websites in 2014 by regions

Hà Nội
Hanoi Tp.
HoHồ
ChiChí Minh
Minh Hải
HaiPhòng
Phong Đà
DaNẵng
Nang Cần
Canthơ
Tho

52% 48% 49%


47% 46%
36%
29% 31% 29% 29%
24% 25% 23%
17% 16%

Daily
Hàng ngày Hàng tuần
Weekly Monthly
Hàng tháng

2. Mobile version of websites


According to the survey results, 15% of enterprises had mobile version of their websites.

44
Figure 27: The rate of owning mobile version of websites
85%

15%

Có Không
Yes No

3. Website functions
In 2014, the number of websites having online orders increased comparing to the previous years
(41% in 2013 and 59% in 2014). The rate of websites having online payment in 2014 was 20%,
slightly increased 2% compared to 2013 (18%).
Figure 28: The rate of enterprises’ website functions

59% 2013 2014

41%

20%
18%

Đặt hàng trực tuyến Thanh toán tực tuyến


Online orders Online payment

4. The advertising methods of e-commerce websites


Social networks with some advantages such as high users, low prices become to be effective
methods for enterprises advertise E-commerce websites (50%). The following methods were
search engines (47%) and electronic journal (35%). However, when enterprises were asked to
evaluate the advertising methods of e-commerce websites, 39% of respondents gave high scores
for search engines, followed by social networks (28%).

45
Figure 29: The advertising methods of e-commerce websites in 2014

NoChưa quảng bá
advertising 13%
Các phương tiện khác
Other methods 21%
ỨngMobile
dụng diapps
động 10%
Tin nhắn/Email quảng cáo
SMS/Email 24%
Các công
Search cụ TK
engines 47%
Mạng XH
Social networks 50%
Truyền hình
Television 15%
Báo
Electronic điện tử
journal 35%
Báo giấy
Newspapers 24%

Figure 30: The advertising methods over years

No advertising 21%
Phương tiện khác 27%
25% 2014 2013 2012
Other methods
15%
Truyền hình 18%
Mobile apps 16%
47%
Các SMS/Email
công cụ TK 43%
47%
Search engines 35%
Báo điện tử 40%
39%
Social networks
13%
Chưa quảng bá 15%
Television 15%

Electronic 50%
Mạng xã hội 37%
journal 34%
24%
Báo giấy
Newspapers 26%
20%

Figure 31: The effectiveness of E-commerce websites advisement in 2014

Tin nhắn và ứng dụng di động 41% 43% 15%


SMS and mobile apps

Công cụ TK 16% 44% 39% Thấp


Low
Search engines
Trung bình
Moderate

Mạng XH 21% 51% 28% Cao


High
Social networks

Báo điện tử 30% 50% 20%


Electronic journals

46
Figure 32: The cost of enterprises’ website advertisement in 2014

52%
40%

7%

Dưới 10 triệu Từ 11 - 50 triệu Trên 50 triệu


Under 10 million VND 10 – 50 million VND Over 50 million VND

47
V. THE EFFICIENCY OF E-COMMERCE APPLICATION IN ENTERPRISES
1. Receiving and placing orders via electronic means
In 2014, the rate of enterprises receiving orders via email was double the rate of enterprises
receiving via website, with 78% and 36% respectively. Similarly, the rate of enterprises placing
orders via email had twice the rate of enterprises placing via websites (75% and 41%
respectively).
Figure 33: Receiving and placing orders in enterprises in 2014

Nhận đơn đặt hàng Đặt hàng


Receiving orders Placing orders
78% 75%

36% 41%

Email Website

Figure 34: Receiving orders via electronic means in enterprises over years

2012 2013 2014

83% 78%
70%

35% 36%
29%

Email Website

Figure 35: Placing orders via electronics means in enterprises over years

2012 2013 2014


83%
75%
68%

50%
41%
33%

Email Website

48
According to the survey results, 16% of enterprises said the value of their receiving orders via
electronic means (email, website) passing 50% the total revenue. Meanwhile, 33% of enterprises
said that the value of their receiving orders via these electronic means ranged from 21% - 50% of
their total revenue in 2014.
Figure 36: The total value of orders enterprises receiving compared the total revenue in
2014

51%
33%

16%

Dưới20%
Under 20% Từ–21-50%
10 50% Trên
Over50%
50%

Regarding the findings, 13% of enterprises said that the value of orders placed via electronic means
accounted for over 50% of the total expenses.
Figure 37: The value of orders enterprises placing compared to the total expenses in 2014

55%

31%

13%

Dưới
Under 20%
20% Từ 21-50%
Under 10 - 50% Over
Trên 50%
50%

70% of enterprises receiving under 400 online orders in 2014. 43% of enterprises said that the
value of placing orders in 2014 was 5 million VND on average.
Figure 38: The number of online orders enterprises received in 2014
70%

19%
4% 7%

Dưới
Under400
400 Từ 400 - 1000
400-1000 Từ1000-2000
1000 - 2000 Trên
Over2000
2000

49
Figure 39: The average value of order enterprises receiving in 2014

43%

23%
21%
13%

Dưới
Under 1 triệu
1 million VND Từ
1-2 1 - 2VND
million triệu Từ million
2-5 2 - 5 triệu
VND OverTrên 5 triệu
5 million VND

2. The revenue of e-commerce enterprises in 2014

44% of surveyed enterprises having revenue of goods, services via e-commerce channels in 2014
increased, comparing with 2013, 50% of respondents said this revenue experienced almost no
change. Only 9% of respondents had decreased revenue.
Figure 40: The revenue of goods, services via e-commerce channel

50%
42%

9%

Tăng
Increase Giảm
Decrease Hầu nhưnokhông
Almost đổi
change

50
VI. THE USE OF ONLINE PUBLIC SERVIC
1. The status of online public services usage
With more than 4.000 online public services provided by management agencies, enterprises had
opportunities to approach the information on the websites of management agencies. According to
the survey results in 2014, 43% of respondents frequently searched information on these
websites.
Figure 41: Frequency of searching information on the websites of management agencies

53%
42%

5%

Thường xuyên
Frequently Thỉnh thoảng
Occasionally ChưaNever
bao giờ

57% of enterprises had already used online public services related to registration, licensing,
notification…provided on local websites.
Figure 42: The use of online public services in 2014

57%
43%

Đã sử dụng
Already use Chưa sửyet
Not dụng

2. The evaluation of online public services usage


Regarding the findings, 39% of enterprises said that the online public services on local websites
were very useful. 55% of enterprises evaluated them as useful and 6% of enterprises thought they
were not useful.
Figure 43: The evaluation of online public services on local websites
55%
39%

6%

Rất có
Very ích
useful Tương đối có ích
Useful Không có ích
Not useful

51
CHAPTER IV
THE OPERATION STATUS OF E-COMMERCE SERVICE WEBSITES

52
I. GENERAL INFORMATION
In 2014, VECITA conducted surveys on 247 traders and organizations owning e-commerce
service websites.
1. Model and scope of operations
The e-commerce service websites in the survey included three types: 88% of e-marketplaces;
16% of online sale promotion websites and 2% of online auction websites.
Figure 79: The models of e-commerce websites in the survey

88%

16%
2%

E-marketplace Online sale promotion Online auction website


website

The surveyed websites were mostly located in two big cities named Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi
with the proportion of 38% and 37%. The rest of 25% websites were provided by other regions.

Figure 80: The surveyed e-commerce websites in different regions

25% Hanoi
37%
Ho Chi Minh City
Other regions
38%

According to the survey, 72% of websites had business over the country. The rest of 12%
websites operated in provinces and cities where traders and organizations had place of business
or representative office placed in.
Figure 81: Business range

72%

12% 11%
2%

Provinces/Cities Neighboring Nationwide Globe


provinces

53
2. Investment capital
85% of e-commerce service websites in the survey had their own budgets. Websites from foreign
investment accounted for 10%, the remained websites were invested from the state budget or
others with small proportions of 5% and 2% respectively.

Figure 82: Investment capital for websites

85%

5% 10%
2%

Enterprises State budget Foreign investment Others

3. Main income of the websites


Advertisement fees were the main income source of e-commerce service websites (70%). 56%
websites charged fee per order. Other fees such as message fee, membership fee, consult fee and
added service fee accounted for small proportions from 13-27%.

Figure 83: Main income of the websites

Advertisement 70%

% chargedFee
feesper
perorder
order 56%

Added service 27%

Consult 27%

Membership
Membership fee 25%

Message 13%

4. The supporting utilities and tools


81% of surveyed websites provided filter tools and search engines on websites. 76% integrated
Yahoo messenger and Skype to give online support for customers. The integration of social
networking and short message services (SMS) was recently concerned by enterprises with the
rate of use of 53% and 50%, respectively.

54
Figure 84: The supporting utilities and tools on websites

Seller evaluation 2%
Other utilities 9%
Product comparison 17%
Transport, delivery administration 23%
Product evaluation 42%
Order management 44%
Shopping cart 44%
Integrated SMS 50%
Integrated social network 53%
Online support/chat/skype… 76%
Filter/search engine 81%

5. Products and services providing on e-commerce websites


Five categories got the most transactions on e-commerce service websites including: fashion
(44%); computers and internet (43%); clothes, shoes, cosmetics (43%); telephone (41%); home
appliances (25%).
Figure 85: Top 5 categories having the most purchase on websites
44% 43% 43% 41%
25%

Fashion Computer Clothing, shoes Telephone Refrigerators,


and Internet and cosmetic home appliances

6. Human resources
The percentage of enterprises that had less than 10 employees was 53% of total surveyed
enterprises. Enterprises had from 10-20 employees and from 20-100 employees took the
proportion of 27% and 16% respectively. And enterprises had more than 100 employees
accounting for 4%.

Figure 86: The percentage of employees in the enterprises

4%
< 10 employees
16%
10-20 employees

53% 20-100 employees


27%
> 100 employees

55
Top 5 websites had the greatest number of staffs in 2014: cungmua.com, enbac.com, hotdeal.vn,
vatgia.vn and lazada.vn. The number of staffs was from 240 to 563 people.

Figure 87: Top 5 websites having the greatest number of staffs

563
471
349
240
182

lazada.vn enbac.com Vatgia.vn cungmua.com mca.mobivi.vn

Regarding the personnel structure, e-commerce service websites had more staffs working on
sales than staffs working on other activities.

Figure 88: The average number of staffs by structure

4 4 4
3
1

Sales staffs IT staffs Support staffs Managers Shipping staffs Legal staffs

7. Payment infrastructure
30% enterprises that owning e-marketplaces, had supported and integrated online payment
functions. 27% accepted card payment such as Visa, Master Card, 25% accepted intermediate
payment and 10% accepted SMS. 45% websites supported delivery service and cash on delivery
(COD).
The method of making payment at store was popular and accounted for 75%. Meanwhile, the
payment method by bank transfer was still used at the rate of 77%.

56
Figure 89: The payment methods on website

Online payment methods were chosen to use: Ngan Luong (34%), Bao Kim (24%), One Pay
(18%) and Payoo (18%). The intermediate payment portals accounted for 18%, including:
Paypal, Smartlink, Fibo, VNPT ePay, Banknet…

Figure 90: The chosen payment methods

18% Ngan luong


34% Bao Kim
6%
Onepay
18%
Payoo
24% Others

57
II. THE OPERATION STATUS OF E-COMMERCE WEBSITESIN DIFFERENT TYPES
1. E-marketplace

a. The sales operation and e-commerce service providing activities in e-marketplaces


Total transaction value in 2014 of 85 surveyed e-marketplaces reached 2,500 billion. The two
leading e-marketplaces were lazada.vn (21%) and sendo.vn (10%).
Figure 44: The share of sales in e-marketplaces
46%

21%

10% 8%
5% 4% 3% 2% 1%

The survey results also showed that, the 3 leading e-marketplaces on revenue from e-commerce
service providing activities were: lazada.vn (26%), ebay.vn (19%), and vatgia.vn (18%).
Figure 45: The share of revenue from e-commerce service providing activities in e-
marketplaces

26%

19%
18%

6%

2% 2%
1% 1% 1% 1%

58
Figure 46: The top websites by revenue

1. Lazada.vn

Lazada.vn was established in the mid 2013 with the investment from Rocket Internet Corporation.
This e-marketplace was quickly trusted as a leading brand name. Compared with 2013, lazada.vn
developed in both transaction volume and transaction value and doubled the growth rate of
revenue.

The growth rate of leading e-marketplace compared with 2013

Total
Transaction Total
Enterprises Website transaction
volume revenue
value

Recess Market Co.,Ltd lazada.vn +133% +160% +200%

Sendo Jsc sendo.vn +100% +45% +45%

2. Sendo.vn

With 5,300 suppliers of goods and services, hundred thousands of diverse products were available
in sendo.vn, this e-marketplace had achieved a 45% growth in revenue, 100% successful
transaction volume and a 45% growth in total transaction value. Sendo.vn had advantages of new
customers after buying the famous website 123mua.vn from VNG. Recently, Sendo JSC
announced an investment strategy in cooperation with three leading Japanese conglomerates on
internet: SBI Holdings, Econtext ASIA, BEENOS10.

b. Investment and technology innovation


The investment in technology of e-marketplaces in 2014 ranged from 10 to 100 million VND
(54% of websites). Most of these websites were in the form of classified ad, forums, so their
scale of investment was relatively small. The e-marketplaces which had the investment from 100
million to 1 billion VND, accounted for 23%. The number of e-marketplaces with large-scale
investment (over 1 billion VND) accounted for 8%, rising slightly compared to 2013.

10
Information cited from website www.sendo.vn, dated 5/12/2014
59
Figure 94: Investment on technology innovation

2013 2014

<10 million VND 10-100 million VND 100 million VND - 1 >1 billion VND
billion VND

The highest level of investment on technology innovation was seen in chodientu.vn with the
investment accounting for 25% of the total revenue. Other websites such as tiki.vn, ebay.vn,
sendo.vn , vatgia.vn were in the top 10 websites invested the most in technology;
If comparing with total revenue, this investment only accounted for a small proportion from 1-
5%.

Figure 95: The proportion of investment with total revenue

37% 38%
25%
16%
11% 9%
4% 5% 2%
1%

2. Online sale promotion websites


In 2014, 16% of websites participated in the survey were online sale promotion websites.

a. Revenue
Total revenue of online sale promotion websites in 2014 was estimated to be over 960 billion
VND, up 18% comparing with 2013.

Figure 96: Total revenue of online promotion websites (billion VND)

960
810

2013 2014

60
The leading website was hotdeal.vn, accounting for 60% of market share. The following was
muachung.vn with 27% of market share. The other websites such as sieumua.com, ivivu.com and
lingo.vn were in the top 5 online promotion websites that got small revenue comparing to total
revenue of these websites (2 – 4%).
Figure 97: The market share of revenue from online promotion websites

b. Promotion value
The saving amount of 40 online promotion websites for consumers in 2014 was estimated at 276
billion VND, up 53% compared to 2013. In particular, hotdeal.vn was leading the saving rate
(35% of the whole market). Muachung.vn followed at the rate of 23%. The other websites such
as cungmua.com, nhommua.com and sieumua.com took the relatively small proportion (4%).
Figure 98: The amount of savings (billion VND)

276

237

2013 2014

Figure 99: Top 5 online promotion websites having greatest amount of savings
35%

23%

4% 4% 4%

Hotdeal.vn muachung.vn cungmua.com nhommua.com sieumua.com

61
c. The development of top revenue websites
In 2014, muachung.vn experienced a slight increase in revenue (+4%). Lingo.vn also strongly
developed in the terms of revenue, the number of suppliers for websites and the amount of
saving for consumers with the growth rate of 14 % and 38 %. The online reservation system for
hotel in Ivivu.com was growing slowly (+1%).
Though sieumua.com got the third highest of revenue but its revenue declined comparing with
2013. For example, 11% of orders and 13% of savings reduced and led to a significant decrease
in revenue (-20%).

Figure 100: The development of top 5 revenue online promotion websites in comparison
with 2013

Saving
No. Website Revenue Suppliers Orders
amount

1 hotdeal.vn +29% +9% +8% +30%

2 muachung.vn +4% +27% +6% -3%

3 sieumua.com -20% - -11% -13%

4 ivivu.com +1% -9% +20% +50%

5 lingo.vn +14% +50% - +38%

Figure 47: Online Shopping Day in 2014(11)


A. ACCESS STATISTICS
Online shopping day was implemented under the direction of the Prime Minister's Decision No.
689/QD - TTg approving National E-commerce Development Program in the period of 2014 -
2020. The program took place on the first Friday of December, dated 05/12/2014. On that day,
the incentive was applied from 0h00 to 24h00, to all transactions on websites within Vietnam
that joining the program. Promotion was only applied for customers ordering online.
Online shopping day attracted over 1,000 participating enterprises – 3,226 promotional products.
Statistics was collected via the official website of the program (www.onlinefriday.vn), and was
compiled by the organizers as follows:
- Total number of access on the information system in NMSTT: 1.993.000 visit

11
Statistics from Online Shopping Day in 2014 at Appendix 1
62
- Total views: 10.684.904 page views
- Views/visit rate: 7.09 views/visit
- The number of participants in the program awards: 13.604 unique users
- Total number of clients email subscribed to regular promotions: 11,301 email

B. TRANSACTION STATISTICS
Online shopping day in 2014 was chosen by many enterprises as the beginning of the year-end
sale. During the day 05/12/2014, the aggregated data from these enterprises were recorded as:
- The total value of goods traded in the day estimated 154 billion VND, an increase
of 2.48 times the average day in the year.

The proportion of orders compared to the average of the business day

3,25 2,45 3,48

< 100 millionVND 100 million - 500 > 500 million VND
million VND

3. Online auction websites


From 2010, Vietnam Internet users were able to access many online auction models. In that time,
there were new rules on auctions as: ceiling price, price steps, time requirements, type of
auctions (forward auction, reverse auctions, etc…). With the rapid development of e-commerce,
many websites changed their operation models due to the lack of efficiency. In 2010, Vietnam
had 100 online auction websites, with 10 professional ones. However, the survey data in 2014
showed that only a few website still maintained this operation model as ebay.vn, kiemthem.vn,
sohot.vn… Moreover, some other websites were providing auction service as an added activity.
Figure 102: Business performance of online auction websites
The number The number Total value of
No. Website of participants in of successful successful bid
the auction auctions (million VND)
1 ebay.vn 30,000 15,000 30,000

2 kiemthem.vn 80,000 7,000 14,000

3 sohot.vn 14,000 4,000 400

63
Figure 103: Introduction to some online auction websites

1. eBay.vn

In 2009, the online auction website eBay.vn was established. After 5 years, the number of
participants and transactions is increasing. In 2014, eBay.vn held for approximately 30,000
members in the auction, successful auctions 15,000 worth successful bid to reach 30 billion.

2. Kiemthem.vn

Kiemthem.vn is the auction system of working, services with specified time. In 2014, the website
had 80,000 members in 7,000 jobs auction, worth approximately 14 billion.

3. sohot.vn

From starting at a website classifieds, sohot.vn developed features to become the online auction
website. In 2014, the website had attracted 14,000 members in the auction, successful bid of
4,000 auctions totaling up to 400 million.

64
III. SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES AND COMPLAINTS ON THE E-COMMERCE
WEBSITES
1. Policies and settlement for disputes
In order to support consumers purchasing on e-commerce service websites, these websites have
announced their dispute settlements. 85% of websites had policies and dispute settlement to
resolve the issues as sellers and buyers reach an agreement with each other. 15% of websites had
supporting policies for cases that parties decided to bring disputes to law authorities. Supporting
policies included the supplement of information and evidences that relating to transactions on
website.
Figure 104: Settlement of disputes on e-commerce websites

15% Self agreement

Law enforcement
agencies
85%

2. Control mechanism and content management on the website


According to the survey, most of the websites had specific rules for posting product information
on the website (79%). Most of these regulations related to the posting method, formality, the list
of goods and services banned on the website, dealing with posts that in contravention of
regulations, etc…
59% websites performed their own control mechanisms, mainly through the review and periodic
inspections of the site administrators or users’ complaint on improper news. 31% of websites
performed automatic control mechanism by filter systems, the website will detect improper posts
to website administrators.
Figure 105: Control mechanism and content management on the websites

79%
59%
31% 29%

Automatic control Particular control Posting information regulation Others

3. Mechanisms on receiving complaints


In 2014, the e-commerce service websites had received more than 6,600 reports and complaints
about the service. The more transactions websites had, the more complaints they received from
customers.

65
Most complaints concerned about the delivery time (60%). 15% of sites were complained about
supporting services in the e-marketplace and 13% were about the quality and design of goods.
Only 6% websites were complained about the payment services.

Figure 106: Complaints on the e-commerce website

Other complaints 8%

Online support 15%

Enterprises supplying goods, services 11%

Delivery time 60%

Payment 6%

Delivery, shipment 3%

Quality and design of goods 13%

66
CHAPTER V
THE STATUS OF E-COMMERCE SALE WEBSITES

67
I. GENERAL OVERVIEW
In 2014, VECITA surveyed 1.350 e-commerce sale websites. Of which, 765 websites or
approximately 57% provided online stores with tools like shopping carts, which allowed
customers to make online orders, to use online payment functions as payment gateway,
electronic wallet, online transfer, etc. 585 websites (43%) of those surveyed were built to provide
information about the products or services, or belonged to distributors or manufacturers that not
trading products or services directly.

Figure 107: Business model of surveyed e-commerce sale websites


57%

43%

Information Delivery Sites Transactional Sites

1. Websites by geography
According to the survey, websites were mostly located in the two big cities named Hanoi and
Ho Chi Minh city. 46% of websites were set in Hanoi, 44% of websites in Ho Chi Minh city,
while 10% were in other cities/provinces.

Figure 108: Websites by geography

10%

Hanoi
46%
Ho Chi Minh city
44% Other

68
2. Business range
About 69% of websites provided products and services nation-wide, while 14% of websites
operated within the cities/provinces where they located. 13% of websites expanded their
businesses to international markets.

Figure 109: Business location of e-commerce sale websites


69%

14% 13%
5%

Within Neighboring Nationwide Globe


provinces, cities provinces

3. Business sectors
The survey showed changes in size and number of categories of products/services provided on
websites. Apart from the traditional online sectors such as food, beverage, books and stationery,
etc., new sectors including auto, bike, and construction industry were also developing.

Figure 110: Business line

Food, beverage 19%


Fashion, comestic, health-care 28%
Interior, exterior decoration 14%
Books, stationery 10%
Auto, motor vehicles, bicycle 7%
Computer, telephone, office equipments 19%
Flowers, gifts, toys 13%
Electronics, household 25%
Job service 3%
Website design 6%
Card service 2%
Online payment service 1%
Tourism, accommodation 10%
Other 17%
Domain registration, hosting 4%
Air, train, bus ticket agent 2%
Industry, construction 17%
Real estate 4%

4. Human Resource structure


According to the survey, 17% staffs of e-commerce sale websites worked for IT departments and
most of Information delivery sites had to outsource IT staffs. In general, e-commerce sale
websites had more sales staffs than technical support staffs. Sales support staffs including sales
69
staffs, legal staffs, online support staffs, etc., represented for 51% of employees. However, only
16% websites had specialized legal staffs.

Figure 111: Human resource structure

18%

17% 17%

16% 16% 16%

Sale staffs IT staffs Legal staffs Shipping Support Managers


staffs staffs

In order to support customers promptly, several websites adopted supporting tools such as
Skype, Yahoo Messenger or online chatting software, etc. Two categories, that had the largest
number of supporting staffs, were computers, phones and office equipments, and fashion,
cosmetic and health-care products (making up about 22% of employees).

Figure 112: Human resource structure by business lines

Legal staffs Shipping staffs IT staffs Managers Support staffs Sales staffs

23%23%23%23%24%24% 21%22%22%22%22%23%
20%20%22% 20%20%
17%19%19%19%
14% 14%
9%

Tourism, accommodation Computer, telephone, office Electronics, household Fashion, comestic, health-
equipments care

82% of surveyed websites had staffs to support customers via telephone, Yahoo Messenger,
Skype or email. Shipping staffs accounted for 16% of total staffs. 42% of websites recruited
staffs for shipping purpose.

5. Investment Source
In 1,350 surveyed websites, over 97% were fully funded by domestic enterprises, while only
0.5% websites received funds from foreign enterprises.

70
Figure 113: Websites by investment source

Other 2.0%
Funded by foreign… 0.5%

Funded by Government 0.2%


Funded by enterprise 97.3%

As for enterprises owning information delivery websites, their websites only provided
information on company’s capacity and the main product. Therefore, their technical
infrastructure and human resources were not invested as much as online store websites did.
Those websites cost a small and medium enterprise an average of 5 billion VND for website
design and domain maintenance, and a large enterprise an average of 10 - 30 billion VND. The
responsibility of website admin was often carried out by staffs, who holding multiple positions in
the enterprise, but basically were not IT staffs.

6. Products and services on e-commerce sale websites


The survey’s results indicated the change in scale, number and categories of products and
services provided on e-commerce sale websites. Fashion, cosmetic and health-care ranked the
first with 28%, followed by household and electronic products at 25%. The high-end technology
products such as computer, telephone and office equipments were the third popular products
targeted by online consumers (19%).

Figure 114: Top 5 products most purchased on websites

Industry, construction 17%


Food, beverage 19%
Computer, telephone, office… 19%
Electronics, household 25%
Fashion, comestic, health-care 28%

71
II. THE STATUS OF E-COMMERCE SALE WEBSITES
1. Supporting tools

a. Supporting tools on e-commerce sale websites


82% of e-commerce sale websites which allowing customers to order online, provided online
supporting tools for customers to raise questions via live chat, email or hotline. 57% of these
websites have shopping carts for customers shopping easier. However, several websites required
users to login account before ordering. 52% of e-commerce sale websites adopted the
management utility for orders, 54% adopted the utility to confirm orders automatically via email
and SMS. 53% of websites that provided search tools, were able to manage and confirm orders
via email. Only 14% of websites helped customers compare products, while 33% allowed them
to rate products.

Figure 115: Tools and utilities provided on online stores

Shopping cart 57%


Product rating 33%
Order confirmation via email, SMS 54%
Order management 52%
Live support (chat, email, hotline) 82%
Delivery management 20%
Social media integration 49%
Comparison tool 14%
Filter/Search tool 53%
Other 19%

b. Membership registration
Most of websites did not require customers register before ordering products/ services (76%).
Instead, those websites asked customers to fill order forms or provided phone number.

Figure 116: The proportion of websites requiring user accounts before placing online order

24%
Require
Not require
76%

72
c. Integration of social networks
Almost 50% of surveyed websites enabled customers to login social network accounts to place
an order, instead of creating a new account on the site. Accordingly, websites automatically
received customer’s information without requiring them to provide any information.

Figure 117: The proportion of websites with social network integration

49% Integrated
51% Not integrated

d. Adoption of online payment function


In 1,350 surveyed enterprises owning e-commerce sale websites, 56% of these websites provided
delivery service and COD payment method. In fact, data showed that the transaction by cash was
most preferred in online purchases. In-store payment was the most popular payment method and
was applied in 90% of surveyed websites. At the same time, cash transfer was used by 83% of
surveyed websites.

Figure 118: Payment methods applied on e-commerce sale websites

COD 56%
Visa, Master cards 22%
Online payment providers 16%
SMS 3%
Bank transfer 83%
Online payment 27%
In-store 89%

Among online payment providers, Ngan Luong took the lead with 33% of websites applied,
followed by Bao Kim with 25%. Onepay was used by 15%, Banknet and Smartlink both by 4%,
and other providers by 19%.

73
Figure 119: Top 5 of online payment providers

Ngan Luong
19%
33% Bao Kim
4%
Onepay
4%
Smartlink
15% Banknet
25% Other

2. Website policies and support services

a. Delivery policy
Delivery service played an important role in online business due to its relation to cost and
services provided by enterprises. Most of SMEs outsourced delivery service by hiring third
parties to ship products and collect money (COD). 42% of enterprises shipped products directly
to consumers. 49% of enterprises used both methods.

Figure 120: Shipping methods

Both 49%

Outsource 9%

Shipping on their own 42%

b. Dispute Settlement
Only 33% of surveyed websites published dispute settlement policy on their pages.

Figure 121: Websites having dispute settlement

33%
Having
Not having
67%

74
c. Advertising methods
According to the survey’s results, Facebook fanpage was ranked first in online advertising
methods (making up 48%), closely followed by Google’s SEO (47%). Advertising via blog and
forum which offered the advantages of low cost, were also optimized by 41% of enterprises.
Total spending on advertising in 2014 was 1.5 times as much as that in 2013. However, online
advertising was still inadequate with the potential of 33 billion Vietnamese Internet users.

Figure 122: Share of online advertising methods

Online newspaper 31%


Logo on other's websites 29%
Email 35%
Google 47%
Facebook ads 25%
Facebook fanpage 48%
Youtube 18%
Twitter 9%
Kiosk 2%
Blog, forum 41%
Other 17%

Figure 123: Top 5 enterprises with large spending on online advertising

Company Domain

FPT Digital Retail Joint Stock Company Fptshop.com.vn

Hansaeyes24 Vina Company Limited Yes24.vn

Nguyen Kim Trading Joint Stock Company Nguyenkim.com

HC Trading Company Limited Hc.com.vn

Knic Company Limited Shoptretho.com.vn

75
Figure 124: Offline advertising methods

Via newspapers, magazines 21%


Flyer 29%
Conferent, event hosting 13%
Event sponsorship 11%
Building of marketing staffs 14%
Organizing trainings 8%
Via telephone 44%
Affliates 32%
Via TV 6%
Via radio 2%
Other 22%

In offline advertising methods, mobile advertising was applied the most by enterprises (44%).
The category of service that had the highest level of applying mobile advertising was beauty,
tourism and banking account providers. Advertising via agencies and distribution channels was
the second leading method in terms of usage by enterprises (32%). Main customers of this offline
advertising method were websites that selling functional food, which aimed to optimize the
advantage of agencies and distribution channels to be more affordable with customers as most of
the functional food was imported.

76
III. EXPENSE AND REVENUE OF E-COMMERCE SALE WEBSITE
1. Expense
According to the survey result, in 2014, operating expense for e-commerce sale website
represented 1.32% of total revenue while advertising cost accounted for 0.96%. Besides, expense
for technology upgrade witnessed significant change, down to 0.36% of total revenue in 2014
from 0.44% in 2013. The decrease was explained by the cutting down on operating expense by
enterprises for after 2 years of operation, the procedure and management of websites had
gradually been stable.

Figure 125: Ratio of cost to revenue for e-commerce sale websites

2013 2014
2.75%

1.32% 1.16% 0.96%


0.44% 0.36%

Operating cost Technology upgrading Advertising cost

2. Revenue
Based on the survey results, only 875 out of 1,350 websites (64.8%) earned revenue, with the
total of 8.084 billion VND (or equivalent to 4 million US dollars). According to enterprises that
owning these websites, this amount in 2014 increased 1.7 times as much as that in 2013.

Figure 126: Total revenue of surveyed e-commerce sale websites (billion VND)
8,084
4,672

2013 2014

The largest revenue came from group of websites which sold fashion, cosmetic and health-care
products and services, accounting for 23% of the total revenue in 2013 and reaching 26% in
2014. Group of websites selling computer, mobile and office equipment witnessed a dramatic
rise in revenue in 2014 which is 1.8 times as much as in 2013. In this group, the biggest
enterprises in terms of revenue included thegioidiVND.com, nguyenkim.com and
fptshop.com.vn. As for electronic and household products, their revenue decreased by 0.1% in
2014. Websites providing tourism service came next in the ranking with a decline of 0.5% to
2.7% in 2014.
77
Figure 127: Products/Services with largest revenue in total revenue

2014 2013

Computer, telephone, office… 22.7%


12.3%
Tourism, Accommodation 2.7%
3.3%
Fashion, comestic, health-care 26.3%
23.0%
Electronics, household 9.1%
9.2%

In 2014, consumers were also affected by financial crisis. Products were most purchased
including electronics and household items. Products with high value were less acquired.
Consumers only visited websites in order to compare prices of same products selling by different
stores.
Figure 128: Most purchased products and services

Electronics, household 13%


Fashion, comestic, health-care 12%
Tourism, accommodation 10%
Computer, telephone, office equipments 9%
Interior, exterior decoration 8%
Food, beverage 6%
Website design 4%
Books, stationery 4%
Flowers, gifts, toys 4%
Domain registration, hosting 3%

ccording to the survey, the popular price for products purchased on e-commerce websites was
less than 200.000 VND, accounting for 36% of surveyed websites.

Figure 129: Price range of purchased items

>5.000.000 8%
2.000.000-5.000.000 12%
500.000-200.0000 20%
200.000 - 500.000 23%
<200.000 36%

78
Out of 23% of surveyed websites whose prices ranged from 200,000 to 500,000 VND, had
fashion, domestic and health-care as the most purchased products. Nevertheless, popular price
paid for electronic and technology products were higher, ranging from 500,000 to 2,000,000
VND.
Figure 130: The main customer resources of websites

Other 25%
Via social media 40%
Via telephone 48%
Via email 26%
Via website 82%

Based on the survey, 82% of websites contacted with their customers via their pages, 48% via
phones and 40% via social media. The statistics indicated that getting access to enterprise’s
websites is the best among various ways to purchase a product.

Figure 131: Main sources of websites’ revenue


84%

15%
5% 1%

Revenue for e-commerce websites came mainly from the sale of products and services provided
on the websites, accounting for 84% of total revenue, while revenue occurring from advertising
and membership made up small amount which were 5% and 1%, respectively.

79
Figure 132: Successful application of e-commerce in enterprise’s business 12

1. Dacsankiengiang.vn
The business establishment Thanh Hang was established in August 2013 in Kien Giang. In
August 2014, Thanh Hang built website at www.dacsankiengiang.vn through solutions provided
at www.eKip.vn with objectives:
“To collect and introduce special products from Kien Giang”.

Website www.dacsankiengiang.vn provides a variety of products including:


- Special products from Kien Giang: Sang Loi white pepper, Khai Hoan fish sauce, Bay Gao
myrtle wine, Hong Tieu Salt, Can ham, KIFOCAN Oil soaked tuna, KIFOCAN Sardine in
tomato sauce; Cajeput peel paintings, etc…

- Fresh and raw seafoods; Dried jelly fish, dried shrimps; Processed food; Handmade products,
etc.

After 5 months of operation, the website attracted over 56,000 pageviews and received a lot of
orders via websites and phones. Popular products purchased were fresh and raw seafood, fish
sauce, dried food, pepper, myrtle wine, etc. Apart from infrequent retailed orders, frequent orders
in wholesale and of high value ranging from 2 billion to 10 billion VND were placed by
customers from provinces like Can Tho, Vinh Long, HCM City, Binh Phuoc, etc. Thanh Hang’s
average revenue reached 100 million VND per month after the application of e-commerce.

2. Cakhotranluan.com – amthuccotruyen.com

The business establishment Ca Kho Tran Luan operated as a household business since 1998 in
Ha Nam. In 2009, Ca Kho Tran Luan started introducing their products on website at
cakhotranluan.com.
Main business lines of Ca Kho Tran Luan include the process and distribution of main product:
Stew fish originated from Vu Dai village. The product was known in both domestic and
international market as Vu Dai village’s stew fish. Since 2009, Ca Kho Tran Luan was one of the
first business establishments introducing rural special food to market. Applied Internet
successfully in the business operation, Ca Kho Tran Luan boosted production and business
activities of Vu Dai villagers, and obtained the following achievements:
- 5 consecutive years in top of provider of Vu Dai stew fish with an annual growth rate of 150%.
- In 2013, Ca Kho Tran Luan provided to the market over 10,000 clay pots, with the value of
each pot ranging from 400,000 to 1,200,000 VND (for 1 to 5 kg).

12
Data provided by enterprises
80
CHAPTER VI
E-COMMERCE IN MOBILE PLATFORM

81
I. E-COMMERCE ON MOBILE PLATFORM
With a population of 90.73 million people in 2014, Vietnam was the 14th most populous country
in the world, the 8th in Asia and 3rd in Southeast Asia. Vietnam's population increased by 1.08%
compared with 2013, including urban population of 30 million, accounting for 33%; rural
population of 61 million, accounting for 67%. In particular, the percentage of the population that
used Internet was 39%, the number of mobile subscribers were more than 130 million (1
Vietnamese on 1.45 SIM card phone in average), 36% of the population used internet via mobile
platforms.

Figure 133: The figure on the use of Internet through mobile in Vietnam

Vietnam population
33% urban
(90,73 million)
Access Internet
39% population
(36 million)
Mobile subcribers
20% smartphone
(134 million)
The percentage of population
36% population
accessing Internet via mobile

In January 2015, WeAreSocial announced survey results on the proportion of people purchasing
online via mobile devices by 27 countries. Accordingly, the dominant demographic structure of
the population with 40% aged from 10 to 24, put Vietnam in the group of countries having high
rate of people purchasing online via mobile devices. This rate could up to 15%; the same as
Australia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and surpass countries that technologies developed such as Japan,
France ...

Figure 134: Percentage of people purchases online via mobile devices (%)

37
27 27 23 23
20 19 19 18 18 17 17 16
15 15 15 15 14 14 13 12 11 11 11
9 8 6
Arab…

South…
Turkey
Germany

Russia
Argentina
Italy
UAE

Japan
China

UK
US
Spain
Hongkong

France
Australia

Mexico

Thailands

India
Korea

Poland

Indonesia
Singapore

Brazil
Malaysia

Vietnam

Philippines

82
1. Model B2C
In the context of the economy with many difficulties, e-commerce with revolution in mobile
technology, that leading by smart-phones and software applications, were contributing to the
retail operations, and creating a basic change in interactive relationship between consumers,
retailers and trademark.

When consumers used mobile devices with software applications on devices to search, access,
compare and buy goods, mobile solutions are becoming an important sales channel for retail
sector. Statistics from the leading retailers in Vietnam showed that retailers were trying to adapt
to the tendency of e-commerce on mobile platforms. The retail businesses not only introduced
actively their products, brands and promotions on mobile commerce platform, but also invested
on designing mobile applications for their own brands.

Figure 135: Tiki JSC with e-commerce on mobile platforms

Tiki Joint Stock Company, a Vietnam enterprise working in the field of e-commerce,
announced the investment structure on new technology platform and investment rates on
mobile platforms in 2014 as follows:

Investment structure on new Investment structure on


technology platform mobile platform
32% Investment on 27% Investment on media
mobile platform
Invesment on Investment on
68%
other platforms 73% technology

Tiki identified that the investment in mobile platform for B2C transactions was one strategic
investment direction in future. The percentage of investment in mobile platform accounted for
68% of the investment structure for new technology platform researching activities. In the
investment in mobile platforms, investment structure remained focused primarily on
communication activities (73%), investment in technology accounts for 27%.

According to a survey of VECITA in 2014 with more than 900 consumers using Internet,
Vietnamese consumers accessed Internet not only via laptop, but also via mobile devices.
Specifically, although in 2010, the number of people accessing Internet via mobile phones was at

83
only 27%, after 4 years, the rate has increased by 38% and reached 65% in 2014; besides, the use
of mobile devices to access the Internet also experienced a sharp rise, due to the appearing of
new technology mobile devices such as tablet, etc... This ratio increased by 19% in 2014,
comparing with 0% in 2010.

Figure 136: Devices for Internet access

84% 75%
65% 2010

33% 38% 2014


27%
19%
0%

Desktop Laptop Mobile phone Other devices (Tablet)

The statistic also showed the method of online shopping via mobile applications was doubled
from 6% in 2013 to 13% in 2014.

Figure 137: Methods of online shopping

71%
61% 2013
51% 53%
45% 2014
35%
25%
19%
13%
6%
0% 4%

Sale e-commerce E-marketplace Group-buying Social network Mobile Other methods


website website application

The survey results revealed that, e-commerce on mobile platform was gradually growing in the
retail sector as a transition from a communication channel to an interactive channel between
retailers and consumers. The acceptance level of consumers was very positive, so the problem
that retailers must solve was how to ensuring technology and their core business services.

2. Model C2C
Another e-commerce model was also popular in Vietnam is e-market place. They were having
movements to direct investment in mobile platforms. The applications for Model C2C could be
divided into two main groups, including:

Group 1 including enterprises developing mobile solutions based on consumer community that
already available on the web platform; representatives of this group were enterprises that had
84
prestigious website, having large number of users so when they expanded to mobile applications
market, they would have the advantage of users. The application of Group 1 was also designed to
take advantage of the basic features of mobile devices such as calling, messages...

Figure 138: Application of Rongbay in IOS

Group 2 including enterprises that had no customer yet so they had to take advantage of the rapid
spread of mobile platforms to promote their applications and build the community of buyer and
seller; representatives of this group were enterprises that were trying to solve the problem of
technology to create a good application platform, then focus on building the community of seller
and buyer. This group had advantage of orienting on the mobile platform from the beginning.
Therefore, it was appropriate with mobile users for rich features, and good technology platform.

Figure 139: Application mRaovat only works on mobile platforms

85
II. BANKING SERVICES - MOBILE PAYMENT
1. Electronic payment services on mobile
According to the report "Mobile Commerce in emerging Asia" in 2014 by Sony Ericsson
Telecom Group that studying on market-based mobile commerce in developing countries in
Asia, the research results showed that the demand of transferring - receiving money of
consumers in Vietnam accounted for 45% of the population, which was also the basis for the
development of application for money transfer via mobile devices in future.

Figure 140: Demand of transferring - receiving money of consumers in 2014

Source: Report "Mobile Commerce in Emerging Asia" - Ericson 2014

Ericsson's research also showed that although the proportion of consumers using mobile
payments were limited to 1% in 2014, but this number would change due to the growing interest
of consumers for this type of payment. Ericsson announced that 19% of respondents
acknowledged the payment services on mobile and 10% expressed their interest, and desire to
learn and use the payment services on this platform.

Figure 141: Awareness of consumers about mobile payments in 2014

Know about 19%

Wish to use 10%

Used to use 1%

Source: Report "Mobile Commerce in Emerging Asia" - Ericson 2014

Vietnam consumer using payment services via mobile for two main purposes: to pay bills and
transfer money. Results of the research showed that when paying bills, 48% of consumers in
Vietnam preferred the payment application on mobile devices of bank to the application of
telecommunications unit. For the transfer, the majority of consumers trusted mobile applications

86
of banks (71%) than other applications provided by the telecommunications unit (10%) or the
card issuers (10%).

Figure 142: Type of payment applications via mobile that consumers preferred

Bill payment service Money transfer service


Mobile application of
banks

12% 9%
Mobile application of
10% providers of
telecommunication
20% services
48% 10% Mobile application of
card issuers

71%
20% Other applications

Source: Report "Mobile Commerce in Emerging Asia" - Ericson 2014

2. E-banking services based on mobile devices


As reported at the conference "ASEAN Bank Forum" in 2013, there was a growing number of
banks in Vietnam implementing e-banking services based on mobile devices. In 2013, there were
30 banks participating in this market, up 58% comparing with 2012 (an increase of 11 banks
comparing to 19 banks that had e-banking services based on mobile devices in 2012 ).

Figure 143: The number of banks implementing e-banking services on mobile devices in
Vietnam 2013

11 The number of banks


increased
8
The number of banks in
6 19
11 previous year
5 5

2010 2011 2012 2013

Source: ASEAN Bank Forum 2013


87
E-Banking services on mobile allowed customers to use services from simple as lookup account
balances, pay bills, purchase prepaid cards such as mobile phone cards, to complex transactions
such as transfers within the same banking system.

Along with the conveniences mentioned above, e-banking services on mobile devices ensured
the security and safety for information because a successful transaction via mobile banking needs
three factors:

1) SIM card - as customer identification

2) Password provided by bank that customers have to remember

3) Authenticity containing random information will be provided by bank (via SMS, email
or Token) when transfers incurred and costumers have to enter the correct required
information.

With the advantages of convenient and safe, the e-banking service on mobile platform was an
important trend of payment, that contributing for the payment infrastructure for e-commerce in
Vietnam. In 2014, Nielsen announced the report "Driving smarter business Decisions in
Vietnam". The report said that e-banking service on mobile platforms would be the trend growth
of Vietnam and will pass on traditional e-banking equipment such as computers (laptop, desktop)
in the next few years. Particularly in 2014, 6% of 26% computer owners that having high
incomes, used e-banking via computer; however, survey data showed that 9% of 22% smart-
phone owners that had high income, used e-banking services on mobile devices.

Figure 144: Percentage of e-banking via computer comparing to via mobile in Vietnam

Source: Driving smarter business Decisions in Vietnam 2014 - Nielsen

(*) Group having income from 30 million VND / month

88
III. INTERACTIVE SERVICES IN MOBILE

1. Taxi booking service


Taxi booking via mobile was still a new service in Vietnam, with the major participation of
foreign enterprises as Uber, Grabtaxi and Easytaxi. The service was divided into two distinct
groups: Easytaxi and Grabtaxi helped connecting the traditional taxi operators with customers
via mobile devices, while Uber connected the driver and passengers together, in general.

Although this service was still very new in Vietnam, but it already had a regular customer base to
compete with traditional taxi services. However, there was a disparity in market share among the
brands. According to an independent survey carried out by YounetCo about the distribution of
taxi booking applications in Vietnam 13 , Grabtaxi accounted for 62% while the number of
EasyTaxi and Uber is 17% and 21%, respectively. The cause of the difference mentioned above
was that their marketing strategies, promotions are quite different.

Figure 145: Percentage of the distribution of taxi booking application market

Uber
21%

GrabTaxi
EasyTaxi 62%
17%

GrabTaxi EasyTaxi Uber

Source: SocialHeat, YouNetMedia.com

Google Trends showed the search trends of Vietnam online community, which also leaning
towards GrabTaxi and Uber.

As taxi booking service via mobile was developing, in 2015, it was predicted to be an exciting
year for taxi services market and the customer would be able to use the services which becoming
better. The market would also experience the participation of Vietnam enterprises.

13
The data were published in http://www.younetmedia.com/blogs/dich-vu-dat-cho-taxi-suc-manh-se-vao-tay-ga-
khong-lo.html
89
Figure 146: Search Trends on taxi booking services

of online community from June-August, 2014

Source: Google Trends

2. Services providing vouchers, coupons, membership cards


Services that provided vouchers, coupons, membership cards to consumers via mobile apps was
not a new field in Vietnam. Large enterprises which have group purchasing services (Hotdeal,
Muachung, ...) were building mobile applications for their own. Survey of VECITA with 900
consumers showed that, compared with 2014, the percentage of users using mobile apps for
online shopping doubled the previous year and reached 13% .

Not only local enterprises, but also big manufacturers of mobile devices were also implementing
the investment in this segment with the aim of adding value to the customer when buying their
products.
Figure 147: The interface of mobile application Muachung

Galaxy Gift and Lumia Vip were the first attempt by Samsung and Microsoft in order to hit the
market of providing voucher, and coupon via mobile devices in Vietnam. When users installed
90
these applications, they would receive the discount code to save money when using the catering
services, spa services or other services in promotional system. Especially, these applications
integrated with the utility navigation to help users identify the promotion in areas surrounding
their positions.

Figure 148: Lumia VIP app allows users to search promotions in areas surrounding them

In order to use one promotion, users only needed to do a few simple steps to create a discount
code. When they gave that code to the store employee, the price would be reduced respectively.
If the shop had signed with My Points of Microsoft (Lumia Vip Application), the user would
receive accumulated points, for example , for each 100,000 vnd paying, they would receive 100
points; then they could use that point to reduce the payment for other services.

The solution of the smart card member providing through mobile devices was also developed by
some enterprises. The application helped users get incentives in the form of accumulated points,
or promotions when they use the provided service. Users could use the application in the list of
preferential locations and to receive special form of service. As accessed the location, users
simply need to open the application, click on the location and display E-Card on the screen.
Then, they show that phone screen to the staff.

Figure 149: Application Foody with feature e-Card

91
IV. DIGITAL CONTENT SERVICES
1. Digital content business on mobile devices
Digital content services on mobile devices are deployed in Vietnam was very diverse way with
many groups, but if divining by the payment method, there should be two main groups:

- Users pay directly and use the digital content

- Users subscribe to use digital content online services

The form of providing the first service had been developed for a long time, from the early days
of digital content services based on mobile platform. Users could download ringtones, ringback
tones, wallpapers ... to their phones via SMS, or download it directly via the Internet. Payment
fee could be paid via SMS that charging directly to users' accounts, or charging to postpaid
account, or by scratching cards, online payments via bank cards ...

VECITA had done a quick interview about consumer attitudes on the issue of payment for digital
content on mobile for 30 random people who own smart phones in Hanoi. The results showed a
fact that consumers were not psychologically ready to pay for digital content. Instead of that,
most of consumers were still looking for free content (10%) , or copyrighted content but had
been unlocked (80%) and only a few people were willing to pay for copyrighted content (7%).

Figure 150: The use of digital content on mobile of consumers

80%

10% 7% 3%

Only use free content Looking for unlocked Paying for copyright Never
copyright digital digital content
content

The second form allowed users to choose the periodic payment with a subscription fee to use the
service. The mobile application allowed users to watch TV programs, or some applications
would allow users to watch high-resolution movies after paying a certain fee.

In fact, consumers in Vietnam had started to change habits for paying costs to be able to use the
online services such as watching movies on mobile. Results of a quick interview with 30
consumers showed that nearly 30% of them were willing to pay for online movie on mobile.
92
Figure 151: The willingness to pay for online movie on mobile of consumers

No 73%

Yes 27%

2. Digital map on mobile devices


According to statistic of GlobalWebIndex coordinated with WeAreSocial to announce in January
2015, 16% of Vietnam's population used location search service on mobile devices.

Figure 152: The mobile application that people using

Source: WeAreSocial

The application of searching content and location information on a map was very diverse with
platforms of foreign enterprises such as Google Maps, Nokia (Here Map), Apple Map ... or of
local enterprises as Diadiem.com, Thodia.vn ... The common thing of these solutions was the
base on geographical maps to provide information about landmarks, entertainment, business
address, ... to help users access easier to information of places around their positions. However,
in this segment of foreign enterprises were many advantages with technological resources and a
large number of users.

93
V.APPLICATIONS AND GAMES ON MOBILE
1. Mobile application
Mobile application market (App Store) was a distribution platform for mobile applications.
Normally, the applications operated on certain platform and equipment, such as the application
of the operating system iOS was only available on Apple App Store. Calculated separately on
Google Android Market, the number of mobile applications had reached approximately 1.5
million, however, the number of applications has "low quality"14 accounted for 15% - according
to statistics collected on the website www.AppBrain.com.

Figure 153: Evaluating the quality of applications on Android

Source: www.appbrain.com
There was still a large gap between the number of free applications and applications with fee in
the market: The number of free application in Google's Android market was approximately
1,251,484, accounted 85.33% of the total number of applications offered on the market.

Figure 154: The number of mobile applications for free and with fee of Android

Free application 1.251.484

Free application 215.204

The most popular applications of Android were in the field of Education - 113.342 downloads;
Lifestyle - 103.818 downloads; and Entertainment - 102.345 downloads.

14
The application of low quality as evaluated by Google would be removed from the market quarterly
94
Figure 155: The application forms available on Android

Although the number was still limited, however, the applications developed by local developers
were also received by the community with high-rate and great downloads on the Apple iOS app
market, Google Android and Microsoft Windows Phone.

2. Games on mobile devices


According to Vietnam Application Market Report 2014, by Appota.com in the second quarter
2014, in the form of business applications on mobile devices, mobile game applications bring the
most profitable business, revenue up to 60% of the total revenue of applications in Vietnam. Ads
in applications brought the revenue up to 27%, while the revenue from the payment of download
applications (IAP - InApp Purchase) was 13%.

Figure 156: Percentage of revenue from the type of applications on mobile

Application
with ads Mobile game
27%
Application with
Mobile game IAP
Application 60%
with IAP
13%

Source: Appota 2014

2014, Newzoo associated with Facebook, Microsoft, EA and Baidu to conduct market research
on mobile games in all Southern Asia countries. The results showed that, with the growth at
87.7% per year, the revenue of mobile game application market in Vietnam could reach 36.5

95
million USD, an increase of 22.5 million USD compared with 2013 and was estimated to reach
161.6 million USD in 2017.

Figure 157: The growth of the mobile game application market in Vietnam

Source: Newzoo 2014

96
Responsible publisher
NGUYEN HOANG CAM

Chief author
TRAN HUU LINH
Director General of Vietnam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency

Content editor
LE DUC ANH – LE THI HA – LE THI THU HANG
NGUYEN DIEU HUONG – NGUYEN HUU TUAN

Cooperation unit providing information and data


VIETNAM E-COMMERCE ASSOCIATION

Copyrighted by
VIETNAM E-COMMERCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AGENCY
MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE
www.vecita.gov.vn

97

You might also like