The role of e-commerce in the development of the wholesale and retail industry:

• Expanding the market: E-commerce breaks down geographical barriers, helping businesses reach a huge potential customer base worldwide, not just limited to a geographic area. Businesses can access international markets, expand their operations, and increase revenue.
• Reducing costs: Businesses selling online can save on costs such as premises, staff, warehouse management, etc. This allows businesses to optimize operating costs, increase profits, and offer products at more competitive prices to customers.
• Increasing operational efficiency: E-commerce helps businesses automate many processes, from order taking to payment and delivery. This helps businesses improve operational efficiency, increase productivity, and save time.
• Personalizing the shopping experience: E-commerce allows businesses to collect data on customer shopping behavior. This allows businesses to personalize the shopping experience for each customer, thereby increasing customer retention and boosting sales.
• Promoting innovation: E-commerce encourages businesses to innovate in the way they do business, from developing new products, optimizing sales channels, to reaching customers more effectively.

FDI’s interest in the wholesale and retail market on e-commerce platforms:

• Potential market: Vietnam has a young, dynamic population, and with the strong development of the internet and smartphones, it creates a potential e-commerce market with a high growth rate and an increasing number of online consumers.
• Favorable investment environment: The Vietnamese government issues many preferential policies to encourage investment in the e-commerce sector, creating a transparent, safe, and attractive investment environment for foreign investors.
• Developed infrastructure: The online payment system, logistics, and e-commerce support services are increasingly improving, creating favorable conditions for online business activities.

FDI companies in the wholesale and retail market on e-commerce platforms:

• Alibaba Group (China) invested $1 billion in Lazada Vietnam, marking an important step in expanding the Southeast Asian market.
• SoftBank Group (Japan) invested $400 million in Tiki, promoting the development of the domestic e-commerce platform and enhancing its competitiveness.
• Temasek Group (Singapore) invested $250 million in Sendo, contributing to diversifying the Vietnamese e-commerce market and increasing choices for consumers.

Conclusion:

E-commerce plays an important role in the development of the wholesale and retail industry, and at the same time attracts strong FDI into the Vietnamese market. Businesses need to seize this opportunity to transform their business model, improve their competitiveness, and attract effective investment. The development of e-commerce will contribute to promoting the strong development of Vietnam’s digital economy and enhancing the country’s position on the global e-commerce map.

Author: Ngan Ho