Social E-commerce Takes Off in Vietnam And Is Expected To Overtake E-commerce Platforms.

According to foreign media reports, at present, the four major e-commerce platforms, including TikTokShop, have total sales of up to 6 billion U.S. dollars, with TikTokShop's growth rate being particularly fast, making it difficult for other well-established e-commerce platforms to match. TikTokShop's rapid growth is also a good indication of the growth potential of social e-commerce in Vietnam.

Southeast Asia is considered to be the most impressive emerging e-commerce market in the world in recent years, and Vietnam is one of the most active e-commerce areas in the region. But what is less known is that social e-commerce is also booming in Vietnam, and the region has better market conditions for social e-commerce.

Currently, Vietnam has over 70 million social media users and over 45 million users of e-commerce platforms. Vietnamese spend an average of 2 hours and 21 minutes a day using social media for texting, contacting, interacting, working, etc., and more than 70% of consumers have searched and shopped on the Internet.

As of January 2021, Facebook Vietnam had 68 million accounts with a reach of more than 87.3% of users over 13 years old, an increase of 7 million over the same period in 2020. Meanwhile, YouTube reached 55.7 million accounts in Vietnam.

In addition, the boom in social e-commerce in Vietnam has been driven by young users.

Vietnam has a younger demographic, and Viber's report shows that Generation Z and Millennials will be one of the most important customer groups for businesses in the next 10 years. The report emphasizes that these young people prefer to use mobile devices, and close to half of them want to be able to use various services quickly and easily.

In the difficult economic times following the epidemic, many businesses are faced with the challenge of having to cut operational costs but are still investing more in social media promotion. The VECOM survey shows that up to 65% of companies have a social e-commerce business and that more and more employees are using social media tools such as Zalo, WhatsApp, Viber, or Facebook Messenger.

According to Accenture, social e-commerce in Vietnam reached $492 billion in 2021. It is predicted that with an average annual growth rate of 26%, by 2025, social e-commerce in Vietnam will exceed $120 million.

TikTokShop is the most successful example of Vietnam's social e-commerce market. After launching in 2021, TikTokShop managed to rank among the top three Vietnamese e-commerce companies in less than a year, with a GMV of $1 billion. While it took Shopee more than a year and Lazada three years to reach the same GMV target.