E-commerce market continues to grow, but has become more polarised: report

E-commerce market continues to grow, but has become more polarised: report

The total sales of the e-commerce market in the first quarter of the year reached US$3.9 billion, a 42.3 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2024.

A recent market research report shows that consumers are shifting towards content-driven platforms and prefer shopping through short-form video content. — Photo baodautu.vn

The e-commerce market in Việt Nam experienced an overall strong growth during the first three months of the year, but there is a widening discrepancy in sales between small and large retail sellers, according to a recent report released by digital data analytic platform Metric.

The ‘Market Overview Report for Online Retail Platforms in Q1/2025 and Forecast for Q2/2025’ published on metric.vn is based on data gathered from the four e-commerce platforms Shopee, Lazada, Tiki and TikTok Shop.

According to the report, the total sales of the e-commerce market in the first quarter (Q1) of the year reached VNĐ101.4 trillion (US$3.9 billion), a 42.3 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2024.

The volume of goods sold reached 950.7 million products, a 24 per cent increase compared to Q1 last year.

However, the number of sellers who generated orders decreased significantly, with only 472,500 shops remaining, which is a drop of about 7.5 per cent compared to the same period last year.

This means that about 38,000 shops have left the market compared to Q1/2024.

On the other hand, high-performing sellers saw outstanding growth.

In particular, the number of shops with sales of VNĐ50 billion ($1.9 million) or more nearly doubled compared to Q1/2024.

These statistics reflect a clear market polarisation, according to Metric. While small sellers are gradually withdrawing, large sellers with well-established operational capabilities are becoming leaders in the market.

Of the four platforms, TikTok Shop registered the highest growth rate in sales at nearly 114 per cent, increasing its market share from 23 to 35 per cent.

Shopee maintained a growth rate of 29.3 per cent, but its market share dropped from 68 to 62 per cent. Lazada and Tiki also experienced significant declines in sales, by 43.5 per cent and 66.6 per cent, respectively.

These trends show that consumers are shifting towards content-driven platforms like TikTok Shop and prefer shopping through short-form video content, which is an important signal for other platforms to adjust their development strategies, according to Metric. 

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