Top eCommerce players in Vietnam 2020 -TechAsia

Top eCommerce players in Vietnam 2020 -TechAsia

If you’ve been keeping up with us here at Tech Collective, you’ll know that we’ve previously covered the startup scene in Vietnam. To recap, the country is at an inflection point, according to Daniel Kang, partner and managing director of SoftBank Ventures Korea. With a rapidly increasing GDP, young population, and the willingness to adopt new technologies, the country is poised to generate immense growth in the digital and online sectors.

In particular, the e-commerce sector is experiencing a boom, growing by more than 25% last year with online sales expected to hit $10 billion USD by 2020. Despite a cash-dominant economy and inconsistent transportation infrastructure, online retail is supported by the country’s 73% penetration rate in unique mobile users and a 67% penetration rate in Internet users. In addition, based on a survey by Visa84% of Vietnamese responders shop online at least once a month.

Foreign investors are already responding to the demand for e-commerce in Vietnam. Chinese online retailer behemoth Alibaba leads foreign ventures with Lazada, the largest digital marketplace in Southeast Asia, which reportedly has more than 31 million visits every month. In what some are speculating is a move to enter Vietnam, US-based Amazon is now partnering with the 140-member Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM).

The rise of e-commerce in Vietnam has also propelled industries such as Fintech. Because approximately 42% of the country’s consumers don’t have credit cards, cash-on-delivery has become extremely popular as 91% of Vietnamese online shoppers choose this method of payment. Moreover, mobile banking is largely preferred over physical banking. The combination of few credit cards and greater mobile banking has led the number of mobile phone transactions to reach 90 million for the first nine months of 2017, an increase of 93% from 2016.

With strong online retail demand, e-commerce in Vietnam is an industry that should not be missed. Here are the top players to watch.

BUY2SELL

The Only B2B E-commerce platform helps diverse foreign brands click in Vietnam Buy2Sell has distributed a diverse range of branded goods to the medium and high-end market segments in Vietnam over the last five years.

The company, which belongs to Singapore’s LLHP Group, hassigned distribution agreements with thousands of international suppliers and distributed over 200,000 items, including cosmetics, food & beverage, fashion, household appliances, pharmaceuticals and electronics items since entering Vietnam in 2015.

Many foreign suppliers choose to work with Buy2Sell because of our genuine business model and professional investment in the Buy2sell website, which offers a wide range of premium segment products in Vietnam.

The rep said Vietnam has improved its position in the global economy and its consumer market is among those with the highest potential in Southeast Asia. ” Our upcoming goal is to develop our market share by representing more brands, connecting more Vietnamese buyers and offering them easy access to purchase international goods through the supply chain, bringing consumers quality products at reasonable prices.” CEO – Harry Morant said.

TIKI

Founded in 2010 as an online book sellerTiki is a business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce website that touts itself as the fastest-growing retail company in Vietnam. The online marketplace sells more than 300,000 products in 12 categories and has an annual gross merchandise value of approximately $240 million USD.

Although Tiki generates a substantial profit, it has reported losses for the past seven years due to high operating costs. According to CEO Tran Ngoc Thai Son, the losses are part of the firm’s long-term strategy to scale its operations, specifically in infrastructure, warehouses, human resources, and technology, as well as to entrench itself as a leader in the sector.

Tiki is preparing to raise between $50 and $100 million USD with a new Series D fund in the next 18 months from financial investor groups and strategic investment funds. The capital injection would support their R&D, infrastructure construction, and user training as it attempts to provide new services and develop several mobile applications.

SENDO

Launched in March 2012Sendo is a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce website that sells approximately 10 million products through more than 300,000 vendors, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. The company helps sellers deliver their products in all 63 provinces in Vietnam, specifically targeting metropolitan areas outside of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, where an estimated 74% of the country’s 95 million people live.

In August 2018, the company secured $51 million USD in Series B funding. Investors included SBI Group from Japan, SoftBank Ventures Korea, Daiwa PI Partners, SKS Ventures, and FPT Group, eContext Asia, Beenext, and Beenos. According to co-founder Nguyen Dac Viet Dung, the financing will help Sendo expand its C2C platform, launch its B2C marketplace, and promote its mobile wallet service throughout Vietnam. The company has an annual gross merchandise value of $330 million USD, which is projected to grow to more than $1 billion USD by 2020.

SHOPEE

Shopee continued to lead as Vietnam’s most popular e-commerce platform in the fourth quarter of 2019, with 33.6 million monthly web visits, according to a recent report published by e-commerce aggregator iPrice along with market searchers SimilarWeb and App Annie.

According to iPrice’s analysis, Shopee has competed well on all fronts, with financial backing from its parent company Sea Group fueling its competitiveness.

Recent earning reports from Sea show that despite achieving 1.2 billion orders in 2019 across all markets in the region, the popular e-commerce marketplace still posted a total EBITDA loss of USD 1 billion in 2019. The platform said it will focus on maximizing market leadership across the region. It expects its adjusted revenue in 2020 to be USD 1.7–1.8 billion.

iPrice’s report also ranked the most used e-commerce apps in Vietnam in 2019. Among them, the top four were Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Buy2sell and Sendo. According to the aggregator, these platforms performed consistently throughout the year, implying that Vietnamese consumers are very loyal to their favorite shopping apps.

Tech Asia

E-commerce