Boosting export via giant retail platform like Amazon will enable small- and medium-sized enterprises to access world market at the lowest cost, experts said at a seminar held in Ho Chi Minh City on July 19.

Speaking at the event, Director of the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of Ho Chi Minh City (ITPC) Pham Thiet Hoa said the growth of shipping services has turned e-commerce into a popular trade channel of the world’s major enterprises, including those in Vietnam. 

He added that 98 percent of Vietnamese firms are micro, small- and medium-sized ones with limited capital and technology, so it is important to tap online trade channels. 

Tran Xuan Thuy, Executive Director of the Amazon Global Selling Vietnam, said in the US alone, nearly 70 percent of consumers visit Amazon to seek products while 80 percent compare prices at the site to make final decisions. 

Thuy said the use of Amazon as a new advertising channel will become an inevitable trend for firms in various countries, including Vietnam. 

Co-founder of the Amazon FBA Freedom Group Tran Quy Hien said the rate of buyers on Amazon amounts to 30 percent on usual days and 60 percent on holiday, while the figure at other sites are only about 1 percent. 

According to him, health care products, cosmetics, electronics, household appliances, kitchenware and stationeries are among the bestsellers on Amazon at present. Vietnam’s products such as coconut, momordica and cajeput oil, handicrafts, leather and footwear could compete with foreign brands. 

In order to maintain operations on Amazon, he advised firms to study product development and use technology to bring the best experience to clients.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Vietnam E-Commerce and Digital Economy Agency reported that the global e-commerce revenue topped 2.77 trillion USD last year, which is forecast to top 3.3 trillion USD later this year and more than 4.47 trillion USD by 2021.