The success of TikTok Shop in Vietnam
Thanks to its user-friendly interface, catchy content, trendy filters, and innovative audio-visual editing features, TikTok is widely adopted in countries with a young and tech-savvy population like Vietnam. TikTok Shop, known for its "Shoppertainment" concept, allows consumers to shop while enjoying entertaining content to enhance their shopping experience. In addition to making purchases, users can easily access product information and reviews, as well as hunt for price promotions in live-shopping events. Nevertheless, products sold on TikTok Shop are mainly fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), such as apparel, snacks, and cosmetics, with affordable price ranges.As consumers value the ease of use, convenience, and entertainment factors when shopping on TikTok Shop, the platform has gained significant recognition in Vietnam, particularly among the younger generation. In the third quarter of 2023, the share of Vietnamese Generation Z shopping on TikTok Shop increased threefold compared to the same period of the previous year. Since its first launch in Vietnam in April 2022, TikTok Shop has quickly escalated its revenue to outperform Lazada and secured the second position in terms of sales among e-commerce platforms as of the first half of 2023.
The rise of live commerce in Vietnam: a new era of online shopping
Since 2022, livestream shopping has emerged as the most popular form of livestream content among Vietnamese consumers. When exploring popular e-commerce platforms in Vietnam, it is common to come across livestream sessions with thousands of viewers and a substantial number of orders made, especially during festive occasions. One of the main drivers for this is that Vietnamese consumers dedicate a considerable amount of time to social media activities, including the emerging trend of livestreaming. A recent survey revealed that 38 percent of Vietnamese consumers spent up to three hours every week watching livestreams and over 41 hours per month watching TikTok on average.Moreover, live commerce benefits both buyers and sellers through direct interaction, enabling efficient communication between them, reliable product images, and in-person consultations. Thanks to a young, growing middle-class population and high smartphone penetration rate, Vietnam’s internet economy and e-commerce market hold great potential for both domestic and international players to thrive in the near future.
