Vietnam’s e-commerce market is moving rapidly from a high-growth digital sector into a mainstream part of everyday consumption. According to figures cited by Le Monde, Vietnam’s e-commerce revenue reached approximately US$29.6 billion in 2025, up 25% from the previous year after growing 20% in 2024. E-commerce accounted for about 11% of total retail sales in 2025, indicating that e-commerce is no longer simply an alternative to traditional shopping but an increasingly important part of Vietnam’s retail economy.
The scale of this shift is significant. Vietnam has a large, increasingly digital consumer base whose shopping habits are changing rapidly. Growing smartphone adoption, social media use and digital payments have helped create an environment where consumers are able to discover, compare and purchase these products using increasingly interconnected digital ecosystems. With the growth of e-commerce becoming part of the daily routine, Vietnam is slowly evolving into a market where online retailing will not only drive consumer spending, but logistics, payments, marketing and technological innovation as well.
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Social media is becoming the new storefront
One of the key features of e-commerce in Vietnam is the increasing convergence of social media and commerce. Platforms such as TikTok Shop, Shopee and Lazada are increasingly combining product discovery, entertainment and purchasing within the same digital environment.
Vietnam’s large social media audience makes this particularly powerful. The country has tens of millions of users across platforms such as TikTok and Facebook, creating a huge potential audience for creator-led commerce, livestreaming and short-form product demonstrations. Instead of following a traditional marketing funnel in which consumers discover a product through advertising before visiting a separate retail platform, social commerce allows discovery, engagement and transaction to happen in the same environment.
This changes what it means to sell online. For brands competing in this environment, a product listing alone may no longer be enough. Creator partnerships, strong video content, livestreaming capabilities and platform-specific marketing skills are becoming increasingly important. This, in turn, is creating an e-commerce ecosystem where entertainment and commerce are increasingly intertwined.
Competition is moving beyond Shopee and Lazada
The market for e-commerce in Vietnam has also become increasingly competitive as newer models challenge the dominance of established marketplaces. Although Shopee remains the market leader, TikTok Shop has gained ground rapidly by integrating entertainment, product discovery and transactions within the same platform. Lazada and Tiki remain part of the wider ecosystem, although their relative market positions are changing.
Across Shopee, TikTok Shop, Lazada and Tiki, total sales reached approximately VND429 trillion in 2025, representing growth of nearly 34.8% from the previous year. The distribution of that growth is important. Shopee and TikTok Shop accounted for the overwhelming majority of platform sales in 2025, while Lazada and Tiki represented a much smaller share. This suggests that Vietnam’s e-commerce market is growing rapidly but simultaneously becoming more concentrated around platforms capable of controlling discovery, traffic and transactions.
However, for sellers, this presents an opportunity as well as a risk. These platforms give sellers immediate access to millions of consumers, but they can also increase merchants’ dependence on algorithms, advertising systems, fees and changing marketplace rules. Businesses may therefore need to build the capabilities to sell across multiple channels rather than relying too heavily on a single platform.
The next opportunity may be behind the checkout
Vietnam’s e-commerce growth is increasingly creating opportunities beyond the platforms themselves. As transaction volumes increase, the physical infrastructure required to support online retail becomes more important.
This includes warehousing, inventory management, fulfilment, delivery networks and last-mile technology. In Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, consumers are increasingly accustomed to faster delivery, while retailers are exploring ways to use physical locations as distributed fulfilment centres. Beauty retailer Hasaki, for example, combines an extensive physical store network with digital ordering and rapid delivery capabilities.
This model points towards an important development in Vietnamese e-commerce: the boundary between online and offline retail is becoming less meaningful. Physical stores can function as inventory hubs, while digital platforms can generate demand and route orders to the nearest available location. For logistics and fulfilment startups, this creates opportunities to build the infrastructure that makes faster delivery economically viable.
The opportunity extends beyond delivery. Businesses will require better inventory forecasting, warehouse automation, route optimisation, payment infrastructure and data analytics as order volumes increase. These are less visible than consumer-facing apps, but they may become some of the most important pieces of Vietnam’s digital commerce infrastructure.
Regulation is catching up with the market
Vietnam’s regulatory framework is also catching up with the market. The country’s new Law on E-Commerce, together with its implementing regulations, took effect in July 2026, establishing a more structured framework for platforms, sellers and digital transactions. The new rules establish clearer expectations around platform responsibilities, consumer protection and digital transactions.
At the same time, businesses will face greater compliance obligations as authorities place more emphasis on transparency and consumer rights. For international businesses, it might make Vietnam an even more attractive market for cross-border digital commerce, while for local firms, regulatory compliance might become another competitive advantage as the market matures.
Growth will depend on more than consumer demand
Vietnam’s e-commerce trajectory remains strong. Government strategy targets average annual e-commerce sales growth of 15–20% through 2030, with e-commerce expected to account for 15–20% of total retail sales by then. The wider digital economy is also targeted to reach around 30% of GDP by 2030. But continued growth is not guaranteed simply because consumers are increasingly comfortable shopping online. The next phase will depend on whether Vietnam can strengthen the infrastructure supporting digital commerce while ensuring that businesses across the ecosystem can capture value.
Counterfeit products, misleading product information, transaction safety and data security can compromise the confidence of consumers if not properly addressed. The decline in the number of active sellers on major platforms despite rising transaction value also suggests that the market is becoming more competitive, with weaker sellers finding it increasingly difficult to maintain their position. For smaller Vietnamese companies, the challenge will be ensuring that e-commerce provides more than access to large e-commerce platforms. Businesses need the means to create brands, manage consumer relationships and sales channels and reach consumers without becoming completely dependent on marketplace algorithms.
Can Vietnam become Southeast Asia’s next e-commerce powerhouse?
Vietnam has many of the ingredients needed to become one of Southeast Asia’s most important e-commerce markets. The more important question is what the next stage of growth will look like. If platforms continue to expand while logistics providers, payment companies, merchant tools and digital infrastructure develop alongside them, Vietnam could build an increasingly sophisticated e-commerce ecosystem rather than simply becoming another large marketplace.
The opportunity is therefore bigger than online shopping itself. Vietnam’s e-commerce boom could create an entire layer of businesses supporting discovery, transactions, fulfilment, payments and cross-border trade. If the country can combine its rapidly growing consumer market with stronger infrastructure, trust and regulatory foundations, it could move from being one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing e-commerce markets to one of its most strategically important digital retail economies.