Vietnam is one of the best performers in terms of digital transformation in Southeast Asia, and is expected to be the fastest-growing e-commerce market in the region in five years’ time, U.S.-based consulting firm Bain & Company stated in a new report.

Vietnam is expected to be the fastest-growing e-commerce market in Southeast Asia by 2026, with e-commerce gross merchandise value (GMV) hitting US$56 billion, 4.5 times the estimated value in 2021, according to the annual SYNC Southeast Asia report by Facebook and Bain & Company. 

The study, which surveyed about 16,700 digital consumers in six Southeast Asian countries, including 3,579 participants from Vietnam, described Southeast Asia as a leader of digital transformation in Asia-Pacific and Vietnam as one of the best performers.

Seven out of 10 consumers in Vietnam have digital access and the country will have 53 million digital consumers by the end of 2021, according to the report.

The number of goods categories purchased by Vietnamese online shoppers this year went up 50 percent compared to 2020, while that of online stores in Vietnam also rose 40 percent year on year, resulting in a 1.5-fold increase in total online retail sales nationwide.

​​Some 49 percent of Vietnamese consumers have switched to a new online marketplace within the last three months after considering price incentives, product quality, and availability of goods, among other factors.

For the first time, cash payment has seen the risk of being dethroned with a significant decrease to only 42 percent in 2021 from 60 percent in 2020.

Safety, privacy, and service fees are the three main concerns of Vietnamese consumers when considering a type of payment.

This year, Vietnamese people spent most of their time on social networks, texting, watching videos, shopping online, and emailing.

They used 72 percent of their time for regular activities at home instead of going out.

The surging demand for online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in the ‘golden age’ of e-commerce platforms in Vietnam, local advertising company Adsota said in a report released in June.

Vietnamese consumers are embracing online shopping and social commerce in response to pandemic restrictions, as suggested by a Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes survey this year, where 87 percent of the Vietnamese respondents say they are using e-commerce, including 82 percent who tried it for the first time amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

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