Vietnam projected to become region’s second biggest e-commerce market

Delivery workers for e-commerce platforms Shopee (orange) and Lazada (blue) wait for customers on Cao Ba Quat Road in HCMC’s District 1, Nov. 16, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Vien Thong

Vietnam’s e-commerce market, currently the fourth largest in Southeast Asia, is likely to surpass Malaysia and Thailand to go second behind Indonesia, foreign companies and analysts say.

According to VN Express, in early November, e-commerce platform Tiki said it had raised a further $258 million from foreign investors, including AIA and Mirae Asset.

The country’s e-commerce market is currently worth $13 billion a year and would increase to $39 billion by 2025 when it would be in second place, a recent report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Co report titled ‘e-Economy SEA 2021,’ said.

Thailand will be third with a market of $35 billion.

Since the onset of Covid-19 early last year, Vietnam added eight million new digital consumers and Thailand, nine million.

But 29.3 percent of the Vietnamese population has yet to participate in the digital economy compared to only 10.1 percent in Thailand.

Google and Temasek predicted Vietnam’s e-commerce to grow at 35 percent annually until 2025 period, the highest rate in the region.

Malaysian market research firm iPrice stated Vietnam is becoming one of the "stars" of Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market.