[Ict4devwg] HCMC: E-Commerce develops quickly as companies recognise cost-savings

[Vern Weitzel]

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02BUS150509

E-Commerce develops quickly as companies recognise cost-savings

(15-05-2009)

HCM CITY — The e-commerce sector is expected to achieve a high growth rate for 
this year despite the economic downturn, according to Tran Huu Linh, deputy head 
of the e-commerce department under the Ministry of Information and Communication.

This is due to easier internet connections at lower costs as well as an 
improvement in online payments.

More Vietnamese enterprises are becoming aware of the importance of e-commerce, 
driving up growth.

The Peacesoft Solution Company, which manages the internet shopping portal 
http://www.chodientu.vn, expects the sector’s revenue this year to reach 
VND400billion (US$22.492 million) compared to last year’s figure of VND150 
billion ($8.434 million).

This year the number of buyers and sellers via online shopping portals is 
expected to go up two – to threefold over last year, according to Peacesoft.

Nguyen Hoa Binh, Peacesoft’s general director, said: "We will usually offer 
promotion programmes to encourage consumers to shop and pay online."

E-commerce has developed quickly in Viet Nam, he remarked, adding that total 
transaction value via his company’s website in the first quarter was nearly 
VND100 billion ($5.623 million), with 218,000 sellers and buyers.

Along with e-commerce development, more banks, service providers and e-payment 
suppliers have launched many electronic payment services. Only a few websites 
provided online payment services in 2007, but the figure reached more than 50 
last year.

In an effort to expand the e-payment system, the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) 
last November put into operation the second phase of the interbank electronic 
payment system, which can deal with two million payment transactions a day.

Card payment services also expanded in 2008. By the end of last year, banks had 
issued about 13.4 million payment cards, a 46 percent increase over 2007.

To the end of last year, banks set up 7,051 ATM machines and more than 24,000 
points of sale.

Most domestic banks are members of two major networks, the Smartlink Joint-Stock 
Company and the Viet Nam National Financial Switching Joint-Stock Company.

The two companies’ networks have been connected, so that cardholders can use a 
variety of ATMs.

Cash payments fell to 14 per cent in 2008 from 18 per cent in 2007, with 
non-cash payments in the next two years expected to increase dramatically, 
according to SBV. — VNS