13-10-2015

As reported by GfK, Vietnamese sales revenue of smart phones in 2014 reached 6 million units, bringing Vietnam to the third largest market among 7 Southeast Asian countries. Following the rapid spread of smart phones, online activities accordingly have witnessed many changes. According to the survey conducted by the Vietnam E-Commerce and Information Technology Agency (VECITA), in 2014, web traffic from desktop PCs fell from 84% (2010) to 33%, while traffic from mobile devices sharply increased from 27% up to 65%. In addition, 58% of the respondents say they have ever made online purchases, of which 13% purchases are made through mobile applications, doubling when compared to the previous year.

And how about each corporate’s effort? There is 45% of companies in Vietnam having their own website, 15% of which is mobile friendly, while 11% of e-commerce enterprises use mobile applications for the sales purpose. According to the assessment of companies’ representative on the effectiveness of each sales channel, website is rated to have high effectiveness by 23%, moderate effectiveness by 48%, and low effectiveness by 29%, while the effectiveness of mobile apps is respectively rated high by 13%, moderate by 44%, low by 43%. Mobile apps are assessed lower than website, however some corporates have now gained superior results by deploying this channel. For example, Lazada Vietnam, which is the largest e-commerce company, has invested heavily on the mobile application development, resulting in 30% of its sales in March 2015 achieved through mobile access.