Amazon plans to enter Vietnam market following Alibaba’s footsteps

According to Nguyen Thanh Hung, chairman of the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM), during a meeting between VECOM and representatives of the Amazon Group held recently, the firm’s spokesperson revealed that they had set their eyes on the new up-and-coming market in Southeast Asia, as well as walked delegates through the firm’s strategy to approach customers in the country.
Amazon’s strategy consists of two steps. First, they want to export goods to Vietnam and then import goods from the country. They also want to support Vietnamese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to export on Amazon, Hung said, adding that this move should be considered as a good sign for the Vietnamese SME community.

Amazon wants to export goods to Vietnam and then import goods from the country.

Earlier in November, during a visit to Vietnam, Chinese billionaire, Jack Ma, who is the Executive Chairman of Chinese online marketplace Alibaba, also expressed his desire to assist Việt Nam to develop e-commerce and science technology, fields in which the country holds high growth potential.
Alibaba striking a deal to acquire a controlling stake in Lazada Group SA, the popular Vietnamese e-commerce website, showed Alibaba’s willingness to further participate in the Vietnamese e-commerce market.
Hung said that the participation of foreign e-commerce businesses, especially Lazada, is making the e-commerce market more competitive than ever. With the strong support of Alibaba, Lazada has a great opportunity to become the leading e-commerce platform in Vietnam.
Dinh Thi My Loan, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Retailers, said that Vietnamese retailers faced great difficulties and challenges while competing in the market. Therefore, retail businesses must be active, creative and innovative, she said.
Lai Viet Anh, deputy director of Viet Nam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that Vietnam is one of the world’s fastest growing e-commerce countries.
“The country’s e-commerce market is growing 35 per cent per year, 2.5 times faster than Japan,” Anh said.
Vietnamese businesses capable of taking advantage of the internet and technology grow 2.1 times faster than others. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that spend more than 30 per cent of their budget on technological innovation grow nine times faster than those spending less than 10 per cent.
Anh said that Vietnam’s e-commerce retail sales growth in 2016-20 is estimated at 20 per cent per year and the country’s total retail e-commerce sales would reach US$10 billion by 2020.
In 2017, e-commerce retail sales have expanded by 25 per cent and will become an important part of Vietnam’s e-commerce sector. E-commerce is widely considered the buying and selling of products over the internet. E-commerce is subdivided into three categories: business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C) and consumer to consumer (C2C) also called electronic commerce.
Anh said that e-commerce is expected to become an important infrastructure of Vietnam’s trade sector in the coming time.