Online marketplace flooded with Chinese goods ahead of Tet in Vietnam
Online marketplace flooded with Chinese goods ahead of Tet in Vietnam
As the 2025 Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday approaches, many Vietnamese vendors are partnering with suppliers in China to livestream and put Chinese products on sale on local e-commerce platforms.
Chinese goods on sale at a store in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Bong Mai / Tuoi Tre |
Collaborating with Chinese sellers through live streams
These days, Thao, a Vietnamese residing in China, has been live-streaming on TikTok to sell outfits to Vietnamese customers in preparation for Tet.
A Chinese-speaking man accompanies her, answering detailed product inquiries from customers.
Many stores on TikTok are run by Chinese individuals who speak Vietnamese and promote goods to local buyers.
In a recent live-streamed session with the theme ‘Hunt for Big Tet Deal,’ supported by several Vietnamese collaborators, ZhuZhu, a young woman from Hangzhou, China, with over 1.4 million followers on TikTok, showcased a variety of products, including cosmetics, laundry detergents, and essential oil diffusers, to her Vietnamese audience.
To cater to the busy shopping season, many Vietnamese traders have rushed to import Chinese products through traditional and online channels.
Minh, a wholesaler from Hanoi, shared that since early October last year, customers had already placed orders for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday.
He said among the most popular items were household goods, decorations, footwear, and clothing.
"The range of products is vast, and prices are very diverse. Tet is a peak shopping season, so customers have placed orders early for delivery,” Minh explained.
Customized Chinese products for Vietnamese market
Numerous Tet decorations are custom-made in China for the Vietnamese market, and being sold on e-commerce platforms like Shopee, TikTok Shop, and Lazada.
When searching for ‘Tet decorations 2025’ on Shopee, a plethora of results appears, including stores listing international addresses, meaning the items will be shipped from China to Vietnam after an order.
A shop, with an international address, offers red wreaths commonly used to decorate homes during Tet, but they are marketed as ‘Vietnamese Tet pendants.’
Despite the name, the wreaths feature Vietnamese inscriptions like ‘Phuc’ (Luck), ‘Loc’ (Wealth), and ‘Chuc Mung Nam Moi’ (Happy New Year), with prices ranging from VND20,000 (US$0.8) to VND40,000 ($1.6) per wreath.
Similar items are also available on TikTok Shop, where delivery is indicated as coming from China.
Several experts advised consumers to thoroughly research products, especially health-related goods when shopping online during Tet to avoid purchasing low-quality goods or products that do not meet safety standards, as it can be difficult to track down the sellers for complaints or refunds.
Farmers livestream to sell chickens, flowers, fruits
In rural areas, local farmers are joining live streams to sell their products.
In Yen Bai Province, northern Vietnam, Ngoc Mai, a farmer, uses her phone to livestream a flock of healthy chickens as they roam freely in her garden.
With Tet around the corner, she is selling the chickens at VND110,000 ($4.3) to VND115,000 ($4.5) per kilogram, with each chicken weighing over 2.3 kilograms or heavier.
Farmers in other localities are jumping on the bandwagon to livestream for sales of flowers and fruit.
As Tet draws closer, many farms are no longer accepting orders from distant areas due to concerns about timely delivery.
“It's too far, so I can't take orders from the Mekong Delta or southern Vietnam now. I'm only accepting orders from the northern region,” said Pham Ha, who was live streaming from her garden of tangerines in Yen Bai Province.
Increasing presence of local brands on e-commerce platforms
Vietnamese businesses are focusing on expanding their presence on e-commerce platforms, especially to capitalize on the Tet shopping rush.
"The demand for bringing Vietnamese products to e-commerce platforms is very high," said Nguyen Tran Quoc Dat, CEO of BeyonK Trading Service Company.
Quoc Dat emphasized that e-commerce in Vietnam is rapidly growing, particularly in livestream shopping hosted by influencers and celebrities.
As a result, more and more brands are being introduced via online marketplace.
