Cross-border e-commerce management should be integrated and synchronous to ensure equality and transparency, said Phan Duc Hieu, deputy director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM). — Photo infonet.vn

Hieu told a conference on management policies on cross-border e-commerce services held in Ha Noi yesterday that management should clarify the essence of e-commerce transaction floors. The conference aimed to discuss how to regulate websites and applications providing cross-border e-commerce services.

"Investors in foreign countries have more advantages than local firms. Therefore, State management agencies should have solutions to ensure equality, order and transparency while not restricting business activities," he added.

In recent years, Viet Nam has seen the a rapid boom of companies specialising in e-commerce, especially in Ha Noi and HCM City. The two cities have highest turnover of online advertisement and shopping in the country. However, tax collection from the e-commerce businesses has not been equal to real turnover.

Tax agencies in the cities found and collected several hundreds billion dong of tax evasion from e-commerce firms after investigations.

Tax agencies have faced difficulties in clarifying turnover, costs and incomes on e-commerce activities to manage the tax collection in comparison with traditional firms.

Experts also discussed tax policy, specifically the difference between electronic tax payment and tax exemption for the e-commerce businesses. Nguyen Thi Cuc, former director of the General Taxation Department and chairwoman of Tax Consultancy Association, said management and investigations in cross-border e-commerce sectors have seen challenges, requiring a more complicated process than normal firms.

Cuc said investigations and check-ups need support from credit organisations and relevant agencies to define payment flows. He added that the process should impliment transaction numbers as a foundation for determining tax arrears.

Focus on delivery

Earlier this week, a seminar on ‘Fulfilment of Services' was told that express delivery and fulfilment services do not yet meet the requirements of the fast developing e-commerce sector in Viet Nam.

            The Viet Nam E-Commerce Association (VECOM) organised the seminar in Ha Noi to connect express delivery companies with e-commerce firms.

Luong Tu Anh, Director of Mat Bao Corporation, said at least 24.9 per cent of online purchasers complain about express delivery services while 48 per cent of clients refuse to buy goods from e-commerce business, citing late delivery as the reason.

VECOM Chairman Nguyen Thanh Hung said a survey carried out by the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that of the 50 million estimated internet users in the country, about three-quarters shop online.

Clearly, that reflects the great potential that e-commerce has in Viet Nam.

However, Hung underlined that the e-commerce sector as of now was experiencing great difficulty in meeting buyers' expectations.

Many customers had returned products as these were delivered too late, and customers were by that time no more interested in them.

Hung said express delivery and fulfilment services act as catalysts for the development of e-commerce. Hung said express delivery services did not keep pace with the e-commerce trend, leading to a large ratio of consumers being dissatisfied with the quality of the services.

Han Van Loi, director of Boxme, said in Thailand, 99 per cent of Kerry Express's purchase orders were delivered on time. Compared to it, in Viet Nam, average purchase orders were handed over to buyers after five to seven days, and at times even after 10-15 days.

At the moment, very few e-commerce companies were using inventory management system in a professional manner and many businesses ended up losing goods without knowing about it.

Actually, when making a delivery, e-commerce businesses often resort to methods such as using their employees or hiring shippers.

They want to hire shippers from professional delivery companies to cut their transport costs and expense on human training and to minimise risks involved in delivery.

Foreign direct investment companies in Viet Nam have plans to rent human resources from other companies, said Anh.

According to Hung, e-commerce companies should do their best by coming up with ideas and implementing technology applications and waiting just till online buyers decide to click that basket of goods.

Once that happens, these companies should try their level best to outsource by hiring services from different companies such as warehouse, packing, shipping and other related services.

However, he noted that if they rent all the services, they may fail to do business at all. E-commerce businesses should be smart enough to decide what components they needed to rent in order to use resources in the most effective way.

Currently, some businesses have been shifting traditional delivery services to fulfilment services, including delivery, packing and shipping. However, e-commerce companies should be fully aware of the risks, including disputes, damaged goods and counterfeit goods, to take appropriate steps, said Hung. — VNS