Vietnam is the fastest-growing digital economy in the region, largely due to investment inflow which is still on an unprecedented rise, The Business Times has reported.

Sendo.vn is among Vietnam's most popular e-commerce platform. (Photo: VNA)

“Over the last four years, approximately 1 billion USD in funding has poured into Vietnam's e-commerce sector, reaching a record high in 2019,” the Singapore-based news outlet said.

The last two years has seen the emergence of Vietnamese e-commerce players, such as Tiki, Thegioididong and Sendo, which are among the most successful e-commerce platforms in the region, it said.

According to the report "Vietnam's booming e-commerce market" released by ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute last week, the greatest potential of Vietnam's e-commerce sector can be seen via its enormous expansion, which is predicted to reach 15 billion USD in terms of revenue in 2020.

In revenue terms, Vietnam’s e-commerce surged 30 percent in 2018 to reach a new high of about 8 billion USD. User penetration was recorded at about 56.7 percent in 2019 and is expected to reach 64.4 percent in the next four years.

If the sector can keep its current growth rate of 30 percent, its market size might hit 33 billion USD by 2025, ranking third in Southeast Asia, after Indonesia (100 billion USD) and Thailand (43 billion USD), said report author Dang Hoang Linh, who is Dean and senior lecturer of the Faculty of International Economics, the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.

The logistics and delivery business also saw a phenomenal growth rate of 70 percent amid intense competition in 2018. They are also investing heavily in advanced technologies, such as automatic item sorting and big data.

Regarding the supporting legal framework, compared to other ASEAN countries, Vietnam has a relatively favourable legal environment for the development of e-commerce, with five out of six main laws fully enacted to regulate e-commerce activities.