Vietnam to build e-commerce trade portal

The Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to construct an e-commerce website starting from 2012 based on import and export activities.

Do Van Chien, director of the ministry’s Information Centre, said thatthe website will offer support services to commercial transactions among enterprises focused on textiles, seafood, agricultural products, wood,rubber, footwear, leather, steel, fertiliser, plastic and handicrafts.

The website will also provide businesses with an opportunity of finding partners, expanding their business activities and exploring new markets, especially to small- and medium-sized companies, Chien said.

Similar to international B2B (business-to-business) websites, the MoIT’s site will introduce customers to images, products and enterprise information, said Hoang Ngoc Oanh, deputy head of the ministry’s e-commerce division.
She added that businesses will receive additional assistance in terms of dealing with customs, banking,transport and insurance via the new site.

For thoseenterprises new to doing business online, a trial site www.likevietnam.com will include introductions to online and offlinee-commerce services.

Dinh Duc Thu, director of the VDC Online Company, said that Vietnam currently had 9,300 B2C (business-to-customer) and 3,000 B2B websites producing total revenues of US$1.95 billion a year.

Enterprises involved in theabove had helped promote the use of software in production and business,especially with regard to accounting, Thu said, adding that investment to management software had successfully been applied to workforces, supply chains and customers.

According to Thu, investmentto e-commerce and information technology has accounted for 5 per cent oftotal enterprise production and business costs.

Researchhas found that 58 per cent out of nearly 30 million-internet users source information related to commodities they plan to buy online before making a decision, providing Vietnam with a broad canvas on which togrow its e-commerce industry.

Le Danh Vinh, deputy minister of Industry and Trade and chairman of the Vietnam E-Commerce Association (VECOM), said that, while Vietnamese e-commerce had developed quickly over the past few years, the country still lagged behind in terms of development, compared to other parts of the world.

Tran Huu Linh, deputy head of the ministry’s E-Commerce and Information Technology Department, said that his department planned to roll outpolicies, regulations and consultant services in support of enterprisesapplying e-commerce activities for production and business purposes. Vietnam’s total e-commerce transaction value is expected to reach US$6 billion by 2015, according to economic experts.

Source VNA

Tags: e-commerce trade portal