E-commerce is evolving from a domestic retail channel into a strategic infrastructure for export expansion, forming a “digital runway” that enables Vietnamese enterprises to reach global consumers directly, bypassing traditional distribution chains.

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With Vietnam’s total foreign trade turnover projected to near 920 billion USD in 2025, the role of e-commerce in supporting exports is no longer theoretical.

The challenge now lies in accelerating execution capacity to transform digital channels into a new growth driver.

Tran Van Trong, Secretary-General of the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM), said the domestic e-commerce market still has vast growth potential.

While e-commerce accounts for 40–50% of total retail sales in developed economies, the figure in Vietnam stands at around 12%.

However, Trong stressed that from an export perspective, e-commerce has yet to be positioned strategically. Despite vibrant online activity and competitive products in sectors such as furniture and garments, Vietnamese enterprises often lack the operational capacity to convert digital presence into stable export turnover.

Experts note that many businesses still equate digital exports with simply listing products online. This perception limits value creation to visibility rather than genuine market penetration, preventing domestic digital growth from becoming a strong export lever.

In a volatile global trade environment, specialists emphasise that online export development must be aligned with sustainable production, environmental protection, and social responsibility.

Export growth that neglects quality standards and green requirements risks short lifecycles and market disruptions, particularly as global platforms increasingly apply artificial intelligence and big data to manage seller compliance and consumer behaviour.

Le Hoang Oanh, Director of the E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said the policy landscape has seen an unprecedented number of Politburo resolutions and Government directives, accompanied by stricter monitoring and reporting requirements.

She noted that regulatory frameworks must keep pace with emerging models such as livestream commerce, social commerce, multi-platform ecosystems and, notably, cross-border e-commerce.

While Vietnam is accelerating institutional reforms to reposition digital trade, progress depends heavily on implementation speed, cross-border logistics, and enterprises’ ability to manage data effectively.

In 2025, Vietnam’s e-commerce market reached an estimated 31 billion USD, up 25.5% year-on-year, accounting for about 10% of total retail sales of goods and services.

This figure, though still modest, reflects the growing contribution of e-commerce to Vietnam’s overall exports, as demonstrated by the country’s trade surplus in 2025, Oanh said.

Looking ahead to 2026, the agency will prioritise six key tasks, including issuing a decree guiding the implementation of the Law on E-commerce, rolling out the National E-commerce Development Plan for 2026–2030, strengthening management and inspection, building e-commerce databases and applying AI to supervision, narrowing development gaps among regions, and promoting cross-border e-commerce linked to exports.

Notably, 2026 will be a crucial year for international cooperation, with Vietnam aiming to finalise the signing of the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement, conclude negotiations on the e-commerce chapter of the ASEAN – Canada FTA, launch the ASEAN – Republic of Korea deal talks, and upgrade the CPTPP e-commerce chapter.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan said e-commerce continued to assert its role as a pillar of the digital economy in 2025, contributing roughly two-thirds of the sector’s total value.

Vietnam remains among the world’s 10 fastest-growing e-commerce markets, supporting the record import – export turnover of about 920 billion USD.

Entering 2026, the first year of implementing the Resolution of the 14th National Party Congress, Tan reaffirmed that e-commerce and the digital economy will remain pioneering forces driving digital transformation, green transition, and sustainable growth.

E-commerce is opening a macro-level runway for Vietnam’s digital exports, but presence alone will not generate export value. Only when regulatory reform, cross-border logistics, data capabilities, and digital human resources converge can e-commerce become a national-scale engine for sustainable digital export growth.

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