On the morning of June 21, 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (Department of E-Commerce and Digital Economy) held a workshop with the theme " Facilitate cross-border e-commerce in ASEAN ". The workshop is part of a series of events under the ASEAN Online Sale Day 2023 - ASEAN Online Sale Day 2023 with the goal of promoting cross-border e-commerce in the region and promoting the implementation of the ASEAN+ Free Trade Agreements.
According to Google's 2022 report, Temasek and Bain & Company focus on 6 countries Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, up to 20 million people used the online platform for the first time in 2022, bringing the total number of Internet users in the region from 360 million in 2019 to 460 million in 2019.
The convenience and efficiency of e-commerce is forecast to continue its impressive growth even though the Covid-19 pandemic is gradually ending. According to Statista's report, ASEAN is forecast to achieve a compound annual growth rate of 11.43% in the next 5 years, equivalent to developed countries in the world such as the US, China, and Canada. Revenue at the end of 2023 is forecasted to reach USD 113.90 billion and can completely reach USD 175 billion by the end of 2027. In which, the electronics and food sectors are the most preferred by consumers in ASEAN. According to Statista, each consumer in the region is expected to spend $180 and $145 this year, respectively, on these two categories. The emergence of e-commerce platforms also plays an important part in the overall development of e-commerce in the ASEAN region. Shopee is considered the most dominant platform, accounting for 44% of the total revenue of the region. With this growth momentum, ASEAN is on track to become a $1 trillion Internet economy by 2030.
According to Ms. Le Hoang Oanh, Director of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy, Ministry of Industry and Trade, e-commerce is a strong driving force for businesses, especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), in accessing international markets. Although the e-commerce market in ASEAN is considered extremely promising, countries still face certain difficulties, especially for MSMEs in developing cross-border e-commerce.
From a business perspective, Mr. Squall Wang, Managing Director of UPS Vietnam, it is important to remember that you don't have to start from scratch, digitize processes to make them more efficient, understand more about customs regulations or any problems you face in the process of bringing your products to the world, it is important to remember that you don't have to start from scratch and you can usually get the technology out of the way for a company like UPS. Shopee's representative also affirmed that the construction of cross-border e-commerce platforms is a long-term oriented tool in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises to expand export markets at the most optimal cost.
In Vietnam, cross-border e-commerce is also an area that is assessed to have great potential and is in line with the policy of developing the digital economy set by the Government, and at the same time, it will be an effective supplementary channel for traditional international trade, promoting technological advantages, helping Vietnamese exporters' products reach more customers around the world.