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Doing business online but still paying in cash
Only 11 percent of families in HCM City have been making online purchases, a very low percentage compared with e-commerce development potential in Vietnam and activity across the world.
According to the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade, e-commerce transactions at www.taobao.com in China reach $52.5 million per day, the online payment via AliPay system in China is $100 million per day, while the figure is $178 million per day via PayPal in the US. Meanwhile, the figure for Vietnam is just $96.5 million for the whole of 2009.
Nguoi lao dong quoted officials from the department as saying that e-commerce now seen in Vietnam is a “halfway e-commerce”. This means that consumers log into Internet to search for goods and services they need, and then they contact the suppliers to make purchases and make payments in cash.
To date, 77.9 percent of consumers, who make online purchases, make payments in cash, and only 16.6 percent of consumers make online payments.
Explaining low development levels of e-commerce, experts say it is because consumers do not have confidence in the service.
Recent market surveys show that 38.9 percent of polled consumers do not believe in the quality of goods and services and 33.4 percent said they do not feel secure when making online payments.
In the last 10 years, many cases, where Vietnamese hackers have stolen money from payment cards, have been reported. This also explains why some websites that sell goods and services online have refused online payment transactions from Vietnam.
Analysts believe that making payment via third party sites with the tools to protect consumers should be seen as a feasible solution. Consumers will be able to select goods to purchase and buyers will remit their money to the temporary accounts managed by the trading floors. Only when buyers receive the deliveries, will the money be transferred to suppliers.
Finance service providers, who have realized the needs of the market, have paid more attention to providing e-commerce services. DongA Bank, for example, plans to launch Phone Banking services with 24 hour service. Payoo service of Vietunion is also following the necessary steps to get ISO 27001/27002 certificatse in e-commerce security in order to persuade more consumers to make non-cash payment transactions at www.payoo.com.vn
VietNamNet, NLD
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