E-commerce sales surge 37 percent to USD 4 billion in 2015

The business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce sales in Vietnam reached USD 4.07 billion last year, increasing 37 percent compared to that of the previous year.

It also accounted for about 2.8 percent of total retail sales and consumption services revenue nationwide, according to the 2015 Vietnam E-commerce Report announced by the E-commerce and Information Technology Agency (Vecita) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade recently.

The report also showed that the country's e-commerce had entered a strong growth phase. According to the report, the shopping value of a shopper in the year is estimated at USD 160.

Vecita carried out a survey on an e-commerce application last year with the participation of nearly 1,000 people.

Of these, goods which were most purchased online include clothes, shoes and cosmetics (64 percent), followed by technology and electronic products, household appliances, books, stationery, flowers and gifts. Most online shoppers chose cash payment, with 91 percent of respondents saying they used this method, followed by 48 percent using bank transfers.

Twenty percent of survey participants said that they has used payment cards.

The report also revealed that both sales of websites and e-commerce trading floors increased sharply last year.

Accordingly, the total revenue in the first 10 months of 839 e-commerce enterprises last year was estimated at VND 11.6 trillion.

Meanwhile, the total revenue of 875 e-commerce websites in the first 10 months in 2014 was estimated at VND 8 trillion.

According to the report, e-commerce sites of enterprises with large revenues mostly traded in airplane tickets, refrigeration, furniture, household appliances, electronic and digital products, and audio equipment.

Thirty seven percent of website owners said that goods and services that were most purchased on e-commerce websites had prices ranging from VND 100,000 to VND 500,000.

The ten e-commerce websites that lead in revenue included vietnamairlines.com, thegioididong.com, esale.zing.vn, fptshop.com.vn, lazada.vn, nguyenkim.com, pico.vn, dienmaycholon.vn, hc.com.vn and phucanh.vn.

To achieve strong growth, Vecita said that in the past year businesses recognized the importance and trends of e-commerce, therefore, they had invested more in e-commerce websites with total expenses increasing by an average of 30 percent compared to 2014.