Boosting exports via e-commerce According to a recent survey by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), 92 percent of businesses use mobile phones as a supporting tool for their trade activities, while 82 percent conduct their transactions by facsimile, 64 percent by email and 11 percent on the websites.
Almost all enterprises use the internet to contact their clients in most of their trade performance, the survey says, adding that in the 2006-2011 period, 60 percent of businesses achieved a rise in sales revenue via e-commerce.
Mitch Free, CEO of MFG.com, a world leading online marketplace for manufacturers, says e-commerce has opened up opportunities for businesses to contact their partners around the world, especially to seek new clients as international consumers tend to search for new supplies of goods.
Browsing international business websites, it is easy to see that Business-2-Business (B2B) e-commerce floors have attracted a lot of businesses from around the world, including those from Vietnam.
According to an analysis of Alibaba.com, a well-known B2B trading floor, made-in-Vietnam goods ranging from farm produce, handicrafts, and construction materials are topping the list of foreign browsers.
Along with China, India, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the US, Vietnam is now among ten countries and territories having their products most searched.
This means that domestic businesses will be able to gain a leg up on e-commerce competition.
As many still find it difficult to access potential consumers, e-commerce is considered the best option for import-export companies in terms of time and pricing power.
Kimmy Cheng, a sourcing manager of Office Depot, says his company uses e-commerce as an official channel to access manufacturers to make up for the inconvenience.
In the face of fierce competition, there is high pressure on businesses to grasp opportunities, MFG.com CEO Free says, proposing that they take the initiative to apply new business methods, including e-commerce, which will become an indispensable trend in the near future.
In response to the development of e-commerce to meet the growing number of users, Vietnam has mapped out a strategy to develop it.
Tran Huu Linh, Director General of the Vietnam E-Commerce and Information Technology Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), says the MoIT has received 130 applications for establishing e-commerce trading floors and 35 of them have already been licensed.
Linh says with a total of more than 3,100 members involved, these floors have conducted more than 1,500 transactions worth VND4,130 billion in total so far.
All businesses now understand the virtue of e-commerce and hope that they will benefit from a shift in the way of trade performance following the competition of infrastructure and legal framework, Linh says.
The government has issued a number of legal documents relating to the development of e-commerce in line with a resolution on building infrastructure for e-commerce by 2020 that was adopted at the fourth conference of the Party Central Committee.
To this end, Linh says, domestic businesses should take the initiative to grasp every opportunity by renewing their trade performance and applying new methods to secure their foothold in the market.