Retailers advised to seize opportunities in digital technology

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT), the total size of Vietnamese retail market is currently 140 billion USD and is expected to hike to around 350 billion USD by 2025. With this projected level, it will contribute approximately 59% of the country's total gross domestic product (GDP).

In the first quarter, the revenue from retail goods reached over 1,187 trillion VND (47.8 billion USD), up 11.4% annually, accounting for 78.9% of the total retail of goods and services nationwide.

According to experts, the retail market is developing well thanks to impressive GDP growth over the years, improving commercial infrastructure, and the rapid growth of e-commerce.

Dinh Thi Bao Linh, Deputy Director of the MIT’s Industrial and Commercial Information Centre, noted that the Vietnamese consumers are increasingly interested in digital technology, with the number of Internet users reaching 75% of the population and the online shopping rate up to 60%.

Retailers must keep renovating their offline and online sales channels, provide support services, utilise online tools and offer the most convenient electronic payment methods possible.

Nguyen Van Thanh, Director of the E-commerce Development Centre from the E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency, said to help firms find customers through the e-commerce channel, it is necessary to fine-tune mechanisms and policies that are conducive for e-commerce, such as infrastructure, human resources, encourage the private sector to adopt e-commerce, standardise the market and information.

Besides the State support, businesses themselves must enhance their production capacity, diversify products and target younger generations - the most promising customer group for e-commerce in the future, he said./.