(Photo: Amazon Global Selling)

At the Amazon 2024 Cross-border E-commerce Conference recently took place in Ho Chi Minh City, Nguyen Van Thanh, Director of the Center for E-commerce Development (Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam), said that exports through cross-border e-commerce grew about 40 - 50% each year. However, the export scale is still very small, reaching about US $5-6 billion compared to the total turnover of more than US $350 billion in 2023.

Meanwhile, according to Access Partnership's recent report on Vietnam's direct export opportunities through e-commerce, it is expected that by 2027, Vietnam's retail e-commerce exports will reach VND 296.3 trillion (about US $11.6 billion) despite many challenges.

Managing Director of Amazon Global Selling Vietnam Gijae Seong also accessed that, in the past 5 years, Vietnamese businesses are constantly expanding product choices for Amazon customers around the world.

“Health and personal care, home, kitchen, apparel, and beauty products are continuously among the top industries from Vietnam with the best growth rates on Amazon. These are products with traditional raw materials such as wood, herbs, plastic... They easily meet export criterias of international markets," said Seong.

Made in Vietnam product industries can take advantage of consumer trends, especially for sellers of natural, sustainable, environmentally friendly products. Consumers look for simple design styles, with convenient, versatile, flexible features at low cost. On the other hand, they prefer products that promote local and regional characteristics. Regarding beauty, customers focus on comprehensive health care that meets individual needs.

Gijae Seong, Managing Director of Amazon Global Selling Vietnam, spoke at the Amazon 2024 Cross-border E-commerce Conference that recently took place in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: Amazon Global Selling).

The outstanding industry trends and market needs showed that Vietnamese businesses, especially traditional sales businesses, can be confident when accelerating global business through cross-border e-commerce and increasing the market share in the international arena.

Also at the conference, Phung Quoc Man, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Handicraft and Wood Processing Association (HAWA) shared the reality of the traditional export market segment. In 2023, under the impact of the economic downturn in major markets, the key export market of the Vietnamese wood industry caused consumer demand for wooden products to decrease sharply. As a result, Vietnam's export turnover of wood and wood products decreased by 15.9% compared to 2022, reaching only US $13.18 billion.

"The traditional export market segment has been facing many challenges due to low global economic growth, weak consumption, and increased protection barriers. Also, many countries continue to maintain tight monetary policies. However, thanks to cross-border retail through e-commerce, sales of furniture and handicrafts are still growing rapidly," said Man.

He believed that there is much room potential for Vietnamese enterprises to export through e-commerce when most businesses mainly process according to orders and designs of foreign distributors. Most businesses face challenges such as small-scale operations, insufficient capacity to build brands, and poor resistance to sudden and continuous fluctuations in the market.

“To promote Vietnamese wooden furniture products to the world through e-commerce, businesses must constantly make efforts in researching products that suit consumer tastes, especially investing in improving operating capacity. when participating in cross-border e-commerce to meet technical standards and regulations of the international consumer market," Man recommended.

Permanent Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) Truong Van Cam, added that the Vietnamese textiles and garments sector has still faced many challenges from output due to too much dependence on export partners for many decades. Foreign customers are not familiar with Vietnamese sellers in this sector because most of the products are processed for export to foreign retail brands. Still, Vietnam has a competitive advantage in price as it is a direct manufacturing country, and technical skills and product quality are well appreciated by importers.

"Participating in cross-border e-commerce is a good opportunity for Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises to build their brands. However, to access highly competitive markets like the US or Europe, there will still be many difficulties that need to be resolved," said Cam.

Cross-border sales support of e-commerce platforms, Cam stressed, is extremely important, allowing domestic businesses to not only remove bottlenecks on operations and technology.

Speakers shared advice for Vietnamese businesses at the Amazon 2024 Cross-border E-commerce Conference that recently took place in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: Amazon Global Selling).

To be able to compete and meet the conditions for cross-border sales through e-commerce, Gijae Seong, Managing Director of Amazon Global Selling Vietnam recommended that Vietnamese businesses should take advantage of data analysis tools to know international market needs and provide suitable products, along with investment in brand building.

Deputy Director, Department of E-Commerce and Digital Economy (Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam) Nguyen Thi Minh Huyen, also said that to equip Vietnamese businesses with practical skills to expand global business activities, the Department of E-Commerce has coordinated with key industry associations of Vietnam, such as Vietnam Timber and Forest Products Association (VIFOREST); Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) and Ho Chi Minh City Handicraft and Woodworking Association (HAWA) to provide know-how, techniques, and online production and export support services. In addition, it has also coordinated with Amazon Global Selling to implement the initiative "Cross-border e-commerce: A breakthrough era" for Vietnamese businesses.

“After 2 years of implementing the above activities, thousands of Vietnamese businesses have had access to information, techniques, and services as well as innovative ideas and in-depth knowledge on building cross-border e-commerce business plans. In Phase 2, we will continue to cooperate more deeply with Amazon Global Selling to develop training resources, update market trends, thereby equipping businesses with practical skills to overcome barriers when expanding business activities, increasing the presence of Vietnamese brands globally," Nguyen Thi Minh Huyen shared.

Traditional Vietnamese products introduced in Turkey The Vietnamese Embassy in Turkey has introduced the country’s traditional products at the 27th Annual Charity Bazaar held by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs ...

Vietnamese Furniture Products Stand out at Milan Design Week The Vietnam pavilion at the Milan Design Week is inspired by "Saigon Urban," displaying sophisticated furniture and fine arts products, demonstrating dynamism, creativity, colorfulness and ...

Huge Potentials, Opportunities for Vietnamese Products in African Market The 10th African Investment, and Commerce Forum facilitated hundreds of business-to-business meetings, fostering partnerships and collaboration among stakeholders seeking entry to the African market.