SMEs enter online export arena
SMEs enter online export arena
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are now ready to use online platforms in order to boost exports.
Selling products abroad via e-commerce platforms is an efficient way to promote exports and seek partners |
Increased cross-border e-commerce
Nguyen Thi Minh Huyen, deputy director of the Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said Vietnamese exporters of all sizes have experienced many difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of political instability in some parts of the world. In this context, using online platforms to boost exports is the fastest way to bring Vietnamese goods to the world.
Vietnamese data reveal that cross-border e-commerce in 2021 increased by 25.7 percent compared to 2020, while Amazon’s data show that the volume of goods sold via the platform increased by nearly 35 percent in 2021 against 2020, to 7.2 million units.
Tran Thi Yen Phi, CEO of DSW, which sells agricultural products via the Chinese platform Alibaba, said the company sought opportunities and potential markets via e-commerce platforms and experienced strong revenue growth.
Providing support for enterprises
Due to limited financial capacity and human resources, SMEs need more support to raise awareness and accrue knowledge in order to gradually move their business to the online environment.
Vu Ba Phu, director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency, said most of Vietnam’s agricultural trade is in the form of raw commodities with prices lower than other countries’ exports due to lack of market information and limited forms of trade promotion. Therefore, supporting businesses in finding and diversifying markets in the current context is a top priority.
A master program will be launched soon to provide support for the business community. Specifically, the online export ecosystem program will help 10,000 enterprises in various fields to successfully export online in the 2021-2025 period. Businesses will be guided to use standard platforms and will be divided into separate groups for effective advice.
The Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency has coordinated with Alibaba to design, build and deploy the Vietnam Pavilion on this platform, helping Vietnamese enterprises accrue knowledge and skills to conduct international trade activities, promoting Vietnamese trademarks and connecting them to international customers. The agency plans to continue promoting coordination with Alibaba to implement support programs for more than 2,500 SMEs, helping them build capacity and grasp business opportunities.
In addition, the Vietnam Export Portal, a platform providing official information on export-import activities, also brings the latest information and objective and realistic assessments to businesses, helping them develop suitable export plans.
| A survey conducted by the MIT Center for Digital Business shows that businesses that have embraced digital transformation are 26 percent more profitable than their average industry competitors. |
