The E-Commerce Industry 2023 Report shows that sustainability will be the development trend of Viet Nam's e-commerce in the future.

According to this report, with the theme of Sustainable E-Commerce: Driving the Digital Economy, recently released by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and Lazada, e-commerce is an indispensable activity, playing the role of narrowing the gap between people, businesses and localities and optimising intermediate costs to promote production and business.

E-commerce is entering the stage of sustainable and responsible business, experts said in the report.

VCCI vice chairman Nguyen Quang Vinh was quoted by the Dien dan doanh nghiep (Business Forum) newspaper as saying that "Business today must create new values, not only economic values. Enterprises need to think beyond economic issues, being social and environmental values. That's the new way of doing business today."

After the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers have more choices in commercial activities, while competition from new commerce models is increasing. That situation reduces user satisfaction with e-commerce from 65 per cent to 41 per cent. So, e-commerce that does not change means it is going to fall behind.

According to the report, statistics show that 57 per cent of Vietnamese users now stop buying products or services that have an adverse impact on the environment or society. Therefore, choosing sustainable growth will be an indispensable choice for e-commerce floors in the future.

This report states that Viet Nam's e-commerce is entering a new stage of development, focusing on sustainability based on the combination of market and technology with selective investment and cost optimisation for sustainable development goals.

As a bridge connecting businesses to consumers during the sustainable development of e-commerce, Lazada Vietnam and VCCI have pointed out forecasts of some sustainable development trends of the domestic e-commerce industry.

In terms of investment, the sustainable development of e-commerce will continue to focus on long-term investments in infrastructure, technology, logistics and human resources.

In terms of business, the e-commerce industry will create more value for stakeholders via building a community for partners in fields such as payment, operations and logistics, businesses (sellers and brands), and consumers.

In terms of technology, the e-commerce businesses will give priority to investment in technologies that support the trade openness of the e-commerce trading floors, and use of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), to connect and take full advantage of services of many partners on e-commerce platforms.

For the customer experience, they will connect the shopping behaviours of consumers towards a comprehensive and long-term shopping trend from the step of search, selection, purchase, payment, exchange and return of goods.

In terms of payment, they will increasingly expand connections with a diversity in financial partners and development of "buy now, pay later" model, to meet the payment needs of consumers and create more flexible and easier manners in shopping on e-commerce.

"This report is expected to help the businesses clearly and fully realise the sustainable development goals of the domestic e-commerce industry. They need to act for the sustainable development and promptly grasp the new opportunities from this sustainable development," Vinh said.

The 2023 e-commerce industry report said that Viet Nam's digital economy in 2022 was considered to have the fastest growth in ASEAN. E-commerce is one of the pioneering fields of the digital economy, creating driving forces for economic development and digital transformation in the businesses. E-commerce activities continued to grow by double digits, reaching 28 per cent in 2022. — VNS