Online cosmetics purchases accounts for 60% of Vietnam's $3bn revenue

03-Mar-2015 - Last updated on 02-Mar-2015 at 15:56 GMT

In 2014, each consumer spent $145 on average, shopping online in Vietnam, with fashion and cosmetics accounting for 60 per cent of the country's $3b revenue.

According to a recent report issued by the Vietnam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency (VECITA), e-commerce in Vietnam brought in a total revenue of US$2.97 billion in 2014, accounting for 2.12 per cent of the country's gross retail sales of goods.

In fact, 39 per cent of the country's 93.7 million people have access to the internet and the number of social networking users shopping online grew from 45 per cent in 2013 to 53 per cent in 2014.

E-wallets

While leading e-commerce websites included lazada.vn and sendo.vn, the report also illustrated that 64 per cent of online consumers chose to pay in cash, 47 paid via e-wallets and only 14 per cent made payments using online banking.

The research also found that consumers purchasing on group buying sites dropped from 51 per cent in 2013 to 35 per cent in 2014.

As many as a quarter of the respondents said they purchased products on e-commerce trading platforms, and 13 per cent shopped through mobile applications last year.

However, VECITA pointed out that the scale of Vietnamese e-commerce is smaller than in other countries, and only ranks above Indonesia ($2.6 billion in revenue).

Vietnam trying to create international best practice in cosmetics

Vietnam is in the process of lining up its' legal frameworks with international best practices, updating technology, and certifying materials and equipment to create a stable condition to attract brands from other countries.

The minister of planning and investment, Bui Quang Vinh told VietNamNet that routine inspections will be put in place to identify potential or actual causes for detention.

Vinh also revealed that responsible organisations or individuals will be called upon to make necessary corrections or take precautions against future incidents.

The publication went on to report that a decree on public-private partnership (PPP) investment model is to be shortly announced, providing favourable conditions for the private sector to engage more deeply in the country’s growth process.

"Currently, the Government is working to complete a list of projects calling for investment in PPP form, to be made public soon," he said.