Business-to-customer (B2C) e-commerce in Viet Nam earned a total revenue of US$2.97 billion in 2014, according to the Vietnam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency (VECITA). — Photo baotintuc.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Business-to-customer (B2C) e-commerce in Viet Nam garnered a total revenue of US$2.97 billion in 2014, accounting for 2.12 per cent of the country's gross retail sales of goods.

A recent report issued by Vietnam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency (VECITA) under the Ministry of Trade and Industry revealed these statistics, reported the Dau Tu (Investment) newspaper.

Last year, each customer shopping online spent $145 on average. The best-selling products were: electronics and tech gadgets (60 per cent), fashion and cosmetics (60 per cent), home appliances (34 per cent), and books and stationery (31 per cent).

The prices of products, which were consumed the most, ranged from VND1 million ($47.6) to VND3 million (approximately $143), and those purchased the least were priced from VND3 to 5 million ($143 to 238).

Of the country's population of 93.7 million, 39 per cent have access to the internet.

The report illustrated that 64 per cent of online consumers chose to pay in cash, 47 per cent paid via e-wallets and only 14 per cent made payments using online banking.

The number of social networking users shopping online grew from 45 per cent in 2013 to 53 per cent in 2014. Meanwhile, the number of consumers purchasing on group buying sites dropped from 51 per cent in 2013 to 35 per cent in 2014.

As many as a quarter of the respondents said they purchased products on e-commerce trading platforms, and 13 per cent shopped through mobile applications last year.

However, VECITA pointed out that the scale of Vietnamese e-commerce is smaller than in other countries, and only ranks above Indonesia ($2.6 billion in revenue).

It also revealed that Viet Nam's leading e-commerce websites include lazada.vn and sendo.vn. — VNS