Southeast Asia is the region with the fastest-growing e-commerce sales worldwide and Viet Nam has positioned itself among the top five countries in this regard, according to Gijae Seong, Head of Amazon Global Selling Vietnam.

Gijae was speaking at the one-week "Amazon Week 2022: Cross-Border Ecommerce Summit" yesterday in Ha Noi.

He said cross-border e-commerce transformed traditional trade into a new form of foreign trade in which firms no longer have to go through multiple layers, stages and chains to bring products to global customers.

Over the past year, Amazon shelves became an economic engine for many Vietnamese firms, with nearly 10 billion products sold worldwide. The number of Vietnamese sellers on the platform grew by 80 per cent year-on-year.

"From 2021 to 2026, Viet Nam's cross-border B2C e-commerce is expected to grow by 20 per cent annually", he said.

Gijae revealed that Amazon launched an incentive programme early this year in favour of new sellers. The programme comprises support packages worth over US$50,000 each, including discounts and promotional credits.

He also announced Amazon's five focused areas for 2023, which involve boosting awareness and readiness of cross-border e-commerce in Viet Nam, building more global brands for made-in-Vietnam products, helping Vietnamese partners expand businesses, improving their experience, and contributing to the sustainable development of the entrepreneur community.

Lai Viet Anh, Deputy Director General of the Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency, asserted that Viet Nam's e-commerce has been growing steadily over the past ten years with an average annual rate of roughly 30 per cent.

The country is expected to reach $16 billion in e-commerce this year and has its name among the top 10 countries in the world concerning e-commerce growth.

The deputy director general attributed the fast-paced growth to the flexibility of Vietnamese firms, who have always been eager to embrace e-commerce in international trade.

"Vietnamese small-and medium-sized enterprises are highly adaptable to new trends in trade. Such adaptability is the driving force behind the rapid growth", she said.

Vu Thanh Hai, Deputy General Director of the Sun House Group, said his group has decided to go global to expand its market reach. Its target markets include the US and Southeast Asia.

"Our sales on Amazon alone are four times higher than our aggregate sales on all channels in Viet Nam", he said.

He underscored the e-commerce platform as the best tool to gain insight into the US market, as the group can measure its competitive position in the market by gauging customer feedback on Amazon.

Truong Ly Hoang Phi, Chairwoman and CEO of the Investment and Business Partners, Founder of the Business Startup Support Centre Vietnam, underscored Amazon as one of the best e-commerce platforms on the grounds of its customer base.

She also opined that e-commerce is no longer an option but an imperative for Vietnamese firms. Failure to embrace e-commerce would cost them dearly as they would fall behind digitally.

"Firms should move to e-commerce platforms quickly. It's better late than never", Phi said. — VNS