E-commerce, a rapidly developing field, has ushered in a new era in shopping and business. It's a place where people can shop for everything from household goods to fashion, from food to services, with just a few clicks. The convenience, speed, and diversity of e-commerce have completely changed the way we shop and do business. Especially in Vietnam, e-commerce is becoming an indispensable part of the economy, with the presence of many large and reputable businesses.
According to data recently published by the Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency (Ministry of Industry and Trade), the scale of Vietnam's retail e-commerce market in 2023 continued to increase by 25% compared to the previous year, estimated to reach $20,5 billion, equivalent to 7.5% of the total revenue from consumer goods and services nationwide. With an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20% per year, Vietnam has been evaluated by eMarketer as one of the top 5 countries with the fastest growth in the world in the field of e-commerce.
Shopee
Shopee is an e-commerce platform established by the SEA Group in 2015, headquartered in Singapore and operating in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. Shopee not only provides online shopping services, but also connects buyers and sellers, supporting business on a digital platform. Shopee offers a variety of products, such as fashion, cosmetics, household items, phones, TVs, motorcycles, etc. According to a report by Metric, Shopee is currently a leading unit in the field of e-commerce in Vietnam. Specifically, in the third quarter of 2023, Shopee accounted for nearly 70% of the retail sales market share on the platform compared to other competitors in the same industry such as Lazada, Tiki, Sendo, and TikTok.
In terms of revenue, Shopee Vietnam continues to lead with impressive revenue growth of nearly 11 trillion VND in 2022, up 92.2% compared to the same period in 2021. After many years of operating without profit, in 2022 Shopee Vietnam had a positive after-tax profit of over 3 trillion VND in 2022, much higher than competitors in the same industry. With this strong growth, Shopee has expanded its market share and significantly increased its competitiveness in the Vietnamese market. In addition, Shopee has also shown improvements in operational efficiency when 2022 witnessed positive after-tax profit.
Lazada
Lazada is an e-commerce platform established in 2012 and is currently operating in Vietnam and 5 other Southeast Asian countries. Currently, Lazada is one of the leading e-commerce platforms in the region, owned by the Alibaba Group.
In 2022, Lazada achieved a favorable business result when the company’s revenue increased to over 6,6 trillion VND, higher by 94.2% compared to 2020. However, Lazada also had to bear a large loss of over 225 billion VND in 2022. Although in the period from 2020 to 2021, Lazada recorded a significant step forward when their revenue surpassed a major competitor - Shopee. However, in 2022, Lazada’s growth rate slowed down, no longer keeping up with Shopee’s rapid growth rate.
Tiki
Tiki is known as one of the largest and most reputable e-commerce platforms in Vietnam, with a history of more than 10 years since its launch in March 2010. Tiki always puts customers at the center of all business activities, and continuously improves the quality of services and products to meet the needs and expectations of Vietnamese consumers. Tiki is also a brand that carries a strong Vietnamese identity, with a connection to the culture and society of the country.
However, Tiki faced many difficulties and challenges in 2022, when the company’s revenue significantly decreased compared to the previous year. Tiki’s revenue in 2022 only reached over 618 billion VND, down 17.6% compared to 2021, when revenue was 750 billion VND. After-tax profit was not much better when the loss continued to increase to over 2.7 trillion VND, far exceeding the revenue in the same year.
Grab
Grab is a technology company based in Singapore, providing transportation, delivery, and digital payment services in Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries. Grab was founded in 2012 by Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling. Initially, Grab operated as a taxi booking application, but later expanded to other services such as GrabBike, GrabCar, GrabExpress, GrabFood, GrabMart, and GrabPay. In addition, Grab has raised over $10 billion in investment capital from investors such as SoftBank, Temasek Holdings, and GIC.
Grab's revenue in 2020 was over 3,7 trillion VND and then slightly decreased by 11% in 2021 before growing to over 6 trillion VND in 2022, an increase of 90.8% compared to 2021. Along with the growth in revenue, Grab's after-tax profit also recovered, after a loss of over 300 billion in 2021, the after-tax profit increased to over 332 billion VND in 2022.
Foody
Foody, a mobile application and website specializing in cuisine and dining services in Vietnam, has become one of the leading platforms in this field since its establishment in 2011 by Nguyen Ngoc Long and Nguyen Thanh Viet. Foody provides detailed information about more than half a million restaurants, eateries, and cafes across Vietnam, helping users search for restaurants by location, dishes, prices, and many other criteria. In addition, Foody is also a place to share user reviews and comments about restaurants and eateries, creating a vibrant and diverse culinary community. Foody also provides services such as table booking, delivery, and food ordering, allowing users to easily order food from their favorite restaurants and eateries without leaving the application.
In the 3-year period from 2020 to 2022, Foody witnessed steady growth in its business operations. Foody’s revenue in 2021 increased by 40.9% compared to the same period in 2020, and increased by an additional 65.7% to over 2 trillion VND in 2022. Notably, the company’s after-tax loss in 2022 was only 182 billion VND, much less than the over 1,500 billion VND in 2020. This suggests that Foody’s rapid revenue growth seems to have helped improve business efficiency, reducing losses compared to the previous period.
Baemin
Baemin is an online food delivery application developed by Woowa Brothers Corp., a South Korean technology company. Baemin officially entered the Vietnamese market in June 2019. In a short time, Baemin quickly became one of the most popular food delivery applications in Vietnam, providing food delivery services from restaurants, eateries, cafes, and many other places directly to customers. However, at the end of 2023, after 4 years of operation, Baemin officially bid farewell to Vietnamese customers and left the market.
Before announcing its closure and withdrawal from the Vietnamese market, Baemin had a period of fierce competition for market share while maintaining its revenue growth over the years. Specifically, in 2020, the company’s revenue was only at nearly 441 billion VND, but by 2022, the revenue had increased by 83.9% to over 810 billion VND. The company’s losses also tended to increase rapidly over the years, however, 2022 saw a slight decrease to over 1,3 trillion VND.
Be Group
Be Group, a multi-service platform established in 2018, has become one of the leading ride-hailing applications in Vietnam. Be Group provides a range of services, including transportation, delivery, flight booking, and many other utilities, serving customers in 27 provinces across Vietnam. With a large driver team, competitive fares, and a diversity of services, Be Group quickly became the top choice of users when they need to move, deliver goods, or book flights.
However, the business situation of Be Group has gone through significant fluctuations. Specifically, after the decline in revenue in 2021, Be Group’s revenue showed recovery when it increased to over 856 billion VND in 2022, up 134.4% compared to the same period in 2021. However, the company’s after-tax profit continued to be negative, with a loss of over 957 billion VND.
Sendo
Contrary to its competitors, Sendo only started as an e-commerce project developed by FPT Online Service JSC. However, in 2014, Sendo Technology JSC was established and became the governing unit of the Sendo application.
The business situation of Sendo has changed significantly over the years. Specifically, both the net revenue and losses of this company have decreased.
Gojek
Gojek is an Indonesian technology company that provides a super app integrating services such as ride-hailing, food delivery, parcel delivery, online payments, and many other services. Gojek was founded in 2010 by Nadiem Makarim and is currently one of the largest technology companies in Southeast Asia. Gojek operates in more than 200 cities in Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia. Gojek has been recognized as one of the most successful startups in Southeast Asia.
However, compared to other e-commerce companies, Gojek is smaller in scale and less competitive. This is clearly shown through the company’s revenue situation, as Gojek’s revenue has decreased year by year, similar to Tiki and Sendo, and is only over 96 billion VND in 2022. Gojek has the lowest revenue compared to other companies in the same industry. At the same time, the company’s losses have also increased rapidly over the years.
Ahamove
Ahamove, an on-demand delivery application, has become one of the leading technology platforms in the field of goods transportation in Vietnam. Established in 2015, Ahamove uses the most modern technology to optimize local needs, aiming to meet all transportation needs of consumers and business owners. Currently, Ahamove is serving millions of customers across Vietnam.
In 2022, Ahamove witnessed positive growth in its revenue. Specifically, the company’s revenue increased to over 336 billion VND, up 24.6% compared to the same period last year. This suggests that, despite facing fierce competition in the delivery field, Ahamove is still finding ways to grow and develop. However, the company’s losses jumped to over 90 billion in 2021 and then sharply decreased to over 19 billion VND.
The period from 2020 to 2022 shows that the trend of losses is still dominant for most e-commerce businesses in Vietnam. However, this is not necessarily a negative sign. In fact, with the continuous expansion of the scale of operations and the growth of digital users, the e-commerce market in Vietnam still has a lot of potential. The important thing is that businesses need to focus on delivering value to customers, improving service quality, and finding innovative solutions to reduce costs. With the continuous development of technology and changes in consumer behavior, the e-commerce market in Vietnam will certainly continue to expand and develop, opening up many opportunities for businesses in this field.
Source: Vietdata's 2022 report on the Vietnamese E-commerce industry.