The ecommerce (Electronic Commerce) ecosystem is an open space that facilitates all interactions, connecting human factors, social elements, and information technology platforms with applications and services to provide value and efficiently operate components within the ecosystem. So, what are the components of the ecommerce ecosystem?

Ecommerce Ecosystem: Infrastructure

The system includes hardware (servers and devices), software (services/tools for management, and analysis), network systems, and physical facilities that form the foundation for the remaining components, ensuring smooth and efficient ecommerce processes.

Ecommerce Ecosystem: Ecommerce Platform

Software applications are used to build and manage all activities within the system. Currently, businesses often use platforms such as Magento, Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Haravan, and Wix to create ecommerce websites.

Ecommerce Ecosystem: Ecommerce Development Services

Provides services and solutions for developing websites, systems, and ecommerce processes. Some popular ecommerce solution providers in Vietnam include SECOMM, SmartOSC, Isobar, etc.

Ecommerce Ecosystem: Ecommerce Marketplace

Provides an environment and all the services supporting ecommerce, allowing easy buying and selling between multiple sellers and buyers. Popular ecommerce marketplaces in Vietnam include Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Sendo, etc.

Ecommerce Ecosystem: Payment System

Includes networks, systems, and devices processing all transactions within ecommerce. In addition to common payment methods such as cash, card payments (domestic cards, Visa, Mastercard, etc.), payment gateways (OnePay, PayPal, etc.), and e-wallets (Momo, ZaloPay, etc.) are developing in Vietnam.

Ecommerce Ecosystem: Shipping System

The shipping system includes all processes for managing, distributing goods from warehouses, packaging, and delivering to customers. Popular shipping service providers in Vietnam include Giao Hàng Tiết Kiệm, Giao Hàng Nhanh, ViettelPost, J&T, Ahamove, etc.

Ecommerce Ecosystem: Accounting System

Supports businesses in managing data related to invoices, sales revenue, and all financial flows in ecommerce activities. The emergence of e-invoicing software such as E-Invoice, MISA meInvoice, FPT.eInvoice, etc., has greatly supported accounting processes.

Ecommerce Ecosystem: Marketing System

Marketing activities support effective brand and product development, reaching and personalizing customer experiences through strategies, channels, and supporting tools.

Ecommerce Ecosystem: Management System

Uses resource management and operational process management software to enhance seamlessness and efficiency for the entire ecommerce system. Commonly used management systems include ERP, CRM, IMS, POS, OFM, etc.

In general, the components of the ecom ecosystem operate through a system of mechanisms, policies, and consistent laws to form a secure electronic data exchange system, ensuring the rights and responsibilities of businesses and consumers.

To achieve outstanding and sustainable growth, besides optimizing opportunities, businesses need to build a complete for themselves, creating a platform to enhance interactions between businesses, the market, and users more robustly. However, most Vietnamese businesses still face many challenges in building their ecommerce business plans. The majority of businesses have not correctly identified the necessary and appropriate components for their business models, leading to issues related to deployment time and budget constraints.

Frequent monitoring of metrics in business allows a deeper understanding of customers and quantifies important aspects of the business. Particularly in ecommerce (Electronic Commerce), measuring these indices is even more crucial as they assist businesses in assessing existing risks and opportunities in the market.

MEASURE ECOMMERCE: SALES

Gross Profit Ratio (GP)

Indicates how much profit is generated for every dollar of revenue.

Formula: Gross Profit Ratio (%) = Gross Profit / Revenue

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)

The value of goods sold or consumed during a specific period.

Formula: Cost of Goods Sold = Beginning Inventory + Additional Purchases During the Period – Ending Inventory

Average Order Value (AOV)

The average amount a customer spends when shopping on an ecommerce website.

Formula: Average Order Value = Revenue / Number of Orders

Revenue Per Click (RPC)

Average revenue based on the conversion rate each time a customer visits an ecommerce website.

Formula: Revenue Per Click = Revenue / Number of Visits

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

The value a customer contributes to a company over their entire lifetime.

Formula: Customer Lifetime Value = (Transaction 1 + Transaction 2 + Transaction 3 + …Transaction n) x Average Profit Margin

Purchase Frequency

Indicates the average number of times a customer purchases within a specific period.

Formula: Purchase Frequency = Total Orders / Total Customers

Time Between Purchases (TBP)

Measures the time between consecutive purchases by a customer.

Formula: Time Between Purchases = Purchase Frequency / 365

Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate (CAR)

Measures the number of customers who added items to their cart but did not complete the purchase.

Formula: Cart Abandonment Rate = 1 – (Completed Transactions / Carts with Products) x 100

Cost of Acquiring Customer (CAC)

The cost associated with persuading consumers to purchase a company’s products or services.

Formula: Cost of Acquiring Customer = Total Cost / Number of New Customers

Repeat Purchase Rate (RPR)

Indicates the likelihood of customers returning to make a second or subsequent purchase.

Formula: Repeat Purchase Rate = Number of Repeat Purchases / Total Number of Purchases

MEASURE ECOMMERCE: MARKETING

Website Traffic

Refers to the total number of visits to an ecommerce website.

Traffic Source

Identifies the primary sources directing traffic to your website.

Time on Site (TOS)

Indicates the average time a visitor spends on the website.

Average Session Duration

The average time users spend in a single session.

Formula: Total Session Duration / Number of Sessions

Page per Visit

Measures the level of content engagement, indicating how deeply users explore information on the website.

Formula: Pages per Visit = Number of Pages Viewed / Visits

Bounce Rate

The percentage of single-page visits where visitors leave without clicking on any other content.

Formula: Bounce Rate = Total Bounces in a Period / Total Visits in that Period

Click Through Rate (CTR)

The rate at which customers view and click on a business’s advertisements.

Formula: Click Through Rate = Number of Clicks / Number of Impressions

Engagement Rate

Indicates the number of people who interacted with a company’s content through various ecommerce channels such as the business’s ecommerce website/app, ecommerce platforms, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.

Formula: Social Media Engagement = Number of Interactions / Number of Followers

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

The Internet marketing model is where businesses pay a fee each time their ads are clicked.

Formula: Pay-Per-Click Cost = Advertising Cost / Number of Clicks

Conversion Rate (CR)

Measures the ratio of potential customers who become actual customers by making a purchase.

Formula: Conversion Rate = Number of Conversions / Total Ad Interactions

Ecommerce Business Model: B2C

B2C (Business To Customer) involves transactions between businesses and customers. This is also the most popular model in the Vietnamese market.

The Gioi Di Dong is the number 1 retail model in Vietnam for electronic devices such as phones, laptops, tablets, and accessories.

• Website: https://www.thegioididong.com/
• Traffic: 49,447,704 (7/2021)
• Website ranking: #18 (Vietnam), #1,075 (Global)

Ecommerce Business Model: B2B

B2B (Business To Business) involves commerce between two businesses.

TELIO is the first B2B e-commerce platform in Vietnam, connecting small-scale traditional retailers with brands and wholesalers on a centralized platform. By aggregating needs, Telio can provide small retailers with more choices, better prices, and more efficient backend support through economies of scale.

• Website: https://www.telio.vn/
• Traffic: 16,109 (7/2021)
• Website ranking: #37,337 (Vietnam), #2,041,569 (Global)

Ecommerce Business Model: B2B2C

B2B2C (Business To Business To Customer) is a collaborative business model between two businesses (B2B) to create and deliver products, services to end consumers (B2C).

Shopee is the most popular e-commerce platform in Vietnam. Shopee Vietnam initially operated as a C2C model, acting as an intermediary in the buying and selling process between individuals. However, Shopee Vietnam has now evolved into a B2B2C model by providing many services and utilities to support the shopping process for both businesses and consumers.

• Website: https://shopee.vn/
• Traffic: 108,842,585 (7/2021)
• Website ranking: #4 (Vietnam), #325 (Global)

Ecommerce Business Model: C2C

C2C (Consumer To Consumer) is a form of business between two individuals, not businesses.

Chotot is a C2C e-commerce website supporting individuals in buying and selling real estate, cars, recruiting, used electronics, pets, and home services.

• Website: https://www.chotot.com/
• Traffic: 36,610,361 (7/2021)
• Website ranking: #50 (Vietnam), #3,369 (Global)

Ecommerce Business Model: D2C

D2C (Direct to Customer) is a form of providing products directly from businesses to customers, bypassing intermediary distribution steps.

Lavender specializes in directly supplying premium bed sheets for homes and hotels in the e-commerce market without relying on any distributors.

• Website: http://lavendervn.com/
• Traffic: 14,036 (7/2021)
• Website ranking: #96,325 (Vietnam), #4,886,255 (Global)

Ecommerce Business Model: DROPSHIPPING

Dropshipping is a business model that allows online stores to operate without storing inventory, owning products, and shipping products to customers.

Selly is an e-commerce platform that supports business sellers without the need for capital, or inventory storage and takes care of shipping to consumers.

• Website: https://www.selly.vn/
• Traffic: 24,936 (7/2021)
• Website ranking: #58,359 (Vietnam), #2,747,670 (Global)

To inquire about free consultation on ecommerce solutions, please contact SECOMM for expert advice.

As consumer shopping trends shift from offline to online, owning an ecommerce website (EC) is almost a prerequisite for successful business operations. Despite its importance, many businesses are still unsure where to start to build an effective EC website.

Here is a step-by-step journey to building an EC website from basic to advanced for businesses to refer to!

PHASE 1: BUILDING A BASIC ECOMMERCE WEBSITE

When entering the ecommerce market, businesses often build a basic-level ecommerce website to minimize time and budget for website development and gradually adapt to market changes.

Choose a platform to build the website

Businesses can use free website-building tools with ready-made interfaces and features to create a website through simple drag-and-drop operations, without investing too much time and budget in website development and programming. Some popular platforms include Sapo, Haravan, Nhanh.web.

Advantages

• Various ready-made interfaces suitable for different industries and sectors.
• Basic features provided, such as managing product data, prices, images/videos, sales tracking, payment, shipping, marketing, customer management, inventory management, and reporting/analysis.
• Diverse payment methods: COD, card payment, e-wallet.
• Integration with common shipping services: GHN, GHTK, Ninja Van.

Reasonable initial deployment costs with a contract based on usage time.

Disadvantages

• Additional costs may be incurred to use extensions or develop new features for the system.
• Limited customization capability, making it challenging to create a unique brand identity.
• Low flexibility: Difficulty integrating with third-party systems or CRM, ERP, BI…

Design the interface and build functional systems on the chosen platform

Businesses use ready-made templates on the platform and customize them to fit the brand image, industry, and consumer preferences. The chosen platforms offer basic features, and businesses only need to select suitable functions and set them up on the website.

Provide payment and shipping services

• During the ecommerce website development process, businesses need to work with service providers to offer payment and shipping services.
• Common online payment gateways in Vietnam include Paypal, Ngan Luong, VNPay, Airpay, and e-wallets like Momo, ZaloPay.
• Reputable shipping providers in Vietnam include Giao Hang Tiet Kiem, Giao Hang Nhanh, VNPost, ViettelPost.

Complete legal procedures with the Ministry of Industry and Trade

According to Government Decree 52/2013/ND-CP, individuals or organizations that own ecommerce websites for selling goods must notify or register with the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the Ecommerce Management Information Portal.

PHASE 2: TRANSITION TO A SPECIALIZED ECOMMERCE WEBSITE PLATFORM

After using a basic ecommerce website for some time, businesses gradually realize the need to develop an independent, in-depth, and uniquely designed ecommerce website to promote a sustainable ecommerce journey.

Developing a specialized ecommerce website requires both experience and substantial investment in costs and time. However, this is a cost-effective solution for long-term business plans and a suitable transition for a separate and comprehensive ecommerce system.

Choose a platform to build the website

At this stage, businesses can choose specialized e-commerce platforms like WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, which are scalable and customizable to maximize the requirements of:

• Open-source e-commerce platforms allow flexible customization according to needs.
• Support customization of the interface to match the brand’s unique style.
• Own a diverse range of functions from basic to advanced.
• Easily integrate with popular shipping and payment providers.
• Manage multiple systems such as CRM, ERP, BI on one screen.
• Easily develop specialized e-commerce functions, especially features related to industry-specific characteristics, brand development, and optimizing customer experience.
• Actively update and quickly develop new features and technologies.
• Flexible and easy integration with in-house systems and third-party systems such as payment, shipping, ecommerce platforms, CRM, ERP, BI…

However, implementing a specialized e-commerce website may face some difficulties:

• High costs and prolonged deployment time.
• Require a skilled and experienced IT team for effective implementation.

Select a website development service provider

When building an ecommerce website on specialized platforms, as it requires time, costs, and high expertise, businesses often collaborate with service providers for ecommerce website development. Afterward, businesses can build an in-house team or continue working with the provider to maintain website operations.

Some service providers for deploying specialized ecommerce systems include SECOMM, SmartOSC, Co-well Asia, Isobar, Magenest.

Develop the ecommerce website

During project deployment based on the agreed solution with the development provider, all factors related to the quality and effectiveness of the website need to be optimized and tested before handover. Especially crucial functions include:

• Category Management: Control data, functions, attributes, prices, inventory, images, and videos of products.
• Content Management: Develop and optimize content for CMS pages, store images, customize themes, and website design.
• Sales Management: Control and operate sales processes, orders, payments, and shipping.
• Marketing Management: Support building and implementing marketing programs using tools like Omni-channel Marketing, Auto Mail.
• Customer Management: Manage and collect customer information for personalized user experiences.
• Inventory Management: Ensure a continuous supply of goods through inventory management tools and shipping direction.
• Reporting & Analysis: Exploit data and measure performance on Google Analytics, Facebook Pixels, Google Tag Manager.

Operate and maintain the ecommerce website

To maintain seamless online-to-offline business operations, the website needs continuous maintenance, care, and updates.

• System Maintenance: Control and monitor all resources on the system to optimize performance.
• Hosting: Web App system, server management, and 24/7 monitoring.
• Cloud: Enhance accessibility and data storage across the entire website system.

Grow the ecommerce website

Implement activities to increase sales operations on the website and stimulate online sales.

• Omni-channel: Set up a sales system, marketing, and data management on the ecommerce website, social networks (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Zalo…) and e-commerce platforms (Shopee, Tiki, Lazada…).
• E-commerce Marketing: Analyze and plan comprehensive marketing based on core channels (Content Marketing, Social Marketing, Email Marketing, SEM…).
• SEO: Analyze and optimize website structure, and research specific keywords to build a long-term SEO strategy.

The journey from building a basic to an advanced ecommerce website helps businesses adapt to market changes over time.

Ecommerce website has been a companion for businesses facing COVID-19 challenges in 2020-2021. Efficient utilization of ecommerce (EC) not only helps businesses adapt to changing user and market dynamics but also enables them to seize opportunities and excel in the fiercely competitive landscape. Some successful standalone EC websites include thegioididong.com, bachhoaxanh.com, and fptshop.com.vn.

What is the formula for the success of these businesses?

This success hinges on the ability to have a broad vision and a strategic approach at the management level. Building a dedicated EC website is not just about establishing offline stores; it involves developing and optimizing an EC system that aligns with the business, brand, and users. Building a successful brand website offers various benefits, from brand positioning, cost savings, maximizing revenue to owning all data and controlling the game.

Brand Positioning

A dedicated EC website serves as a medium to convey the brand image and connects businesses with customers in the online market. By owning a dedicated EC website, businesses can easily convey messages, establish specialized marketing campaigns, provide accurate information, and promote the brand to get closer to customers.

Maximizing Revenue

Operating on a website, businesses are not limited by time and space. Business transactions can occur 24/7, regardless of location. Actively updating and upgrading the system’s features based on user characteristics, business needs, and industry specifics ensures an optimal user experience and facilitates a more convenient and faster purchasing process.

Minimizing Costs

In addition to enabling direct access and sales to customers, eliminating intermediary costs, establishing an online store (brand.com) is an optimal solution for minimizing various expenses such as rent, personnel, and equipment. Moreover, the automated business process with E-Payment, E-Logistic, E-Invoice functions on the website helps save costs related to personnel and paperwork.

Data Ownership and Control

Building a dedicated EC website means owning a unique “playing field,” reducing dependence on data from EC platforms, social media, or other business systems. With this data, businesses can conduct in-depth data analysis, make business predictions, and develop appropriate directions for the business.

With these superior benefits of deploying a standalone EC website, many businesses have quickly embarked on building an online store for their brand. However, to truly own a successful website that meets specific requirements, similar to Vinamilk, Thế giới di động, Canifa, businesses need a suitable strategy and significant time and investment.

How to build anecommerce website tailored to your business?

With extensive experience in building numerous standalone ecommerce websites for businesses across various sectors, SECOMM fully understands the challenges encountered during the e-commerce deployment process that businesses are facing.

Contact SECOMM to receive consultation on building your own ecommerce website!

In the rapidly evolving landscape of today’s economy, where opportunities and competition are just a mouse click away, the effective implementation of E-commerce (EC) is a non-negotiable for businesses, regardless of their involvement in low or high-involvement industries. This comprehensive guide outlines the crucial steps that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can take to deploy and manage EC strategies successfully, ensuring a competitive edge in the digital marketplace.

Step 1: Choosing the Right Ecommerce Business Model

The initial phase involves meticulous planning and selecting an EC business model that aligns with the overall development direction of the business. SMEs have three primary models to consider:

• B2B (Business to Business): Focused on transactions between businesses.
• B2C (Business to Customer): Tailored for transactions between businesses and end consumers.
• C2C (Customer to Customer): Involving transactions between individual customers.

Step 2: Developing an Ecommerce Strategy

Building a robust EC strategy is a cornerstone for SMEs. Leveraging the 5W1H method provides a structured approach to strategic planning:

• Who: Identifying potential customers and understanding target demographics.
• What: Defining the chosen business model and selecting technology solutions.
• When: Setting a clear timeline for the campaign, specifying start and end dates.
• Why: Establishing a compelling rationale behind the strategy, supported by relevant data.
• Where: Deciding on selling platforms—whether through social media, EC platforms, or the business’s own website.
• How: Planning the implementation strategy, considering external support from consulting companies or EC solution providers.

Step 3: Implementing the Ecommerce Business Strategy

The focus of this step is on determining purchasing channels and ensuring a seamless customer experience:

• Utilizing popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to reach a broader audience.
• Establishing stores on well-known EC marketplaces like Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, and Sendo.
• Collaborating with partners to build a professional EC website that reflects the brand’s identity.
• Consolidating content across various channels to provide a consistent and cohesive customer experience.
• Personalizing the user experience through the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for product/service recommendations and delivering relevant information.

Step 4: Operating and Boosting Ecommerce Sales

Once the EC system is operational, the emphasis shifts to maintaining and enhancing the system for optimal performance:

• Regularly maintaining, updating, and upgrading the system to adapt to the dynamic changes in the market.
• Implementing E-commerce Marketing strategies to stimulate online sales, including targeted promotions and advertisements.
• Utilizing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to attract customer attention on popular search engines.

Step 5: Optimizing Post-purchase Services in Ecommerce

Improving post-purchase services is essential for customer satisfaction and increased conversion rates:

• Offering multiple delivery options, including free delivery for a certain quantity, fast delivery, and flexible time options (Morning/Afternoon/Office hours).
• Leveraging E-logistics to enable customers to track and update the order status conveniently through their mobile devices.

In Summary

The implementation of EC is a critical endeavor for SMEs, representing a transformative journey that, when executed effectively, can lead to sustainable growth and increased market share. However, navigating the complexities of the EC landscape requires a strategic approach and a wise investment of time and resources.

OVER 50 YEARS OF GLOBAL E-COMMERCE JOURNEY (1969 – 2020)

1969: The first online service provider – CompuServe

In 1969, Dr. John R. Goltz, Jeffrey Wilkins, and electrical engineering students founded CompuServe – a service that provided an information-sharing portal through the Internet and email network connections.

1979: Father of electronic commerce (EC) system – Michael Aldrich

Michael Aldrich pioneered the first EC system by connecting a television and a computer for transaction processing via telephone lines, enabling a secure information system to be opened and shared externally. This innovation laid the foundation for the development of modern EC systems.

1982: The first ecommerce company – Boston Computer Exchange

Initially a store supporting the resale of used computers, Boston Computer Exchange became one of the earliest models for today’s EC companies.

1992: The first online book market – Book Stacks Unlimited

Charles M. Stack established the brand Book Stacks Unlimited as the world’s first online book store. Initially using a dial-up bulletin board format, the company later transitioned to the Internet to create an online book trading market.

1995: Birth of the ecommerce giant – Amazon

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon initially as a book-selling business but later expanded its business model to include various products by incorporating new technologies such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Amazon ushered in a new era for the EC industry by integrating Internet technology into its business strategy.

1998: Online payment gateway, a platform for ecommerce development – PayPal

Confinity (the predecessor of PayPal) was founded by Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, Luke Nosek, and Ken Howery. In 2000, eBay acquired Confinity and renamed it PayPal, the world’s largest online payment gateway. PayPal addressed many limitations of traditional payment methods, making the buying and payment process more convenient and laying the foundation for EC development.

1999: The king of the ecommerce industry in China – Alibaba

Alibaba officially entered the EC market, successfully raising $25 million in capital. By 2001, the company became profitable and led the EC platform under the B2B, C2C, and B2C business models. In 2020, Alibaba contributed $12.2 billion to global EC revenue.

2000: Online advertising tool serving ecommerce marketing – Google AdWords

Google introduced Google AdWords, the world’s first online advertising tool. This tool supported businesses in marketing their products on Google’s search network, boosting sales for EC companies at that time.

2004: The first ecommerce website development platform – Shopify

After unsuccessful attempts to build an e-commerce website selling snowboarding equipment on various platforms, Tobias Lütke and Scott Lake founded Shopify – the first platform supporting the development of EC websites worldwide. This platform enables users to easily create online stores without requiring extensive technical knowledge.

2005: Ecommerce event – Cyber Monday

The National Retail Federation (USA) coined the term “Cyber Monday” to describe the first Monday after Black Friday, initiating the online shopping season between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This event marked economists’ interest in the global retail market.

2007: Sustainable ecommerce development platform – Magento

Developed by Roy Rubin and Yoav Kutner in 2007, Magento is an open-source platform written based on the Zend Framework and PHP programming language, specifically designed to build complex EC websites. Magento, known for its multitasking capability, high performance, flexible customization, and easy scalability, has become the top choice for enterprises with 200,000 partners and 2.5 million downloads worldwide.

Multinational corporations using Magento to build sophisticated EC systems include Samsung, Nike, Coca-Cola, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Canon, Sigma, Olympus, Port, Pox, Nestle, BevMo, Burger King, and millions of small and medium-sized EC sites globally.

2016: Facebook joins the ecommerce

game – Facebook Marketplace

With the ambition to dominate the EC market, Facebook, a tech giant, continuously introduced new features on Facebook Marketplace, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and collaborated with various EC platforms (Shopify, OpenCart, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Magento). This made giants like Amazon, Lazada, and Shopee wary, demonstrating the strong allure of the EC market.

2017: Growth of ecommerce

The global EC industry set a new revenue record of $2.352 trillion in 2017, a 25% increase from 2016 (according to eMarketer – a US market research company). Cyber Monday alone surpassed $6.5 billion in online sales. Economists predict that EC will be the world’s focal industry by 2025.

2020: COVID-19 boosts the ecommerce explosion

2020 marked a significant turning point for the global EC industry. The impact of COVID-19 accelerated the construction of EC systems to meet consumer demands promptly. Currently, EC is not only present on platforms like Amazon, Shopee, and Lazada but also brands are starting to build their own EC websites. Additionally, EC spans various sectors from fast-moving consumer goods (fashion, food, technology) to service sectors (travel, finance, education, furniture, and real estate).

According to the “Southeast Asia Internet Economy 2020” report by Google & Temasek, consumers tend to spend more time shopping online than before COVID-19 (increased from 3.7 hours/day to 4.7 hours/day). Global B2C EC revenue increased from $1.948 trillion to $4.280 trillion, doubling Statista.com’s forecast of $2.238 trillion.

COVID-19 has brought positive effects on the global rise of the EC industry and opened up new opportunities for the Vietnamese economy.

The main components:

• Ecommerce infrastructure system includes hardware (servers and devices), software (services/tools for managing and analyzing), networks, and facilities forming the basis for the remaining components and ensuring that all e-commerce processes run smoothly and efficiently.
• Ecommerce platform is a software application to build and manage all the activities. Today’s well-known ecommerce platforms can be mentioned as Magento, Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Haravan, Wix,…,
• The development component provides services and solutions for ecommerce websites, systems, and processes. In Vietnam, some of the notable ecommerce service and solution providers may include SmartOSC, Isobar, SECOMM,…
• Marketplace provides an environment and all services to support ecommerce, allowing commercial activities between plenty of sellers and buyers. The leading ecommerce marketplaces in Vietnam can point to Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Sendo,…
• The payment includes networks, systems, and devices processing all ecommerce transactions. Currently, jointly with the payment, card types (domestic card, Visa, Mastercard,…), payment gateways (OnePay, PayPal, …) or e-wallets ( Momo, ZaloPay, ..) have been developing in Vietnam.
• The shipping system includes the entire process of managing and distributing goods from the warehouse, packaging and delivering to customers. Typically shipping providers are Giao Hang Tiet Kiem, Giao Hang Nhanh, ViettelPost, J&T, Ahamove,…
• Accounting software helps manage all data on ecommerce invoices, sales revenue, and cash flows. The birth of e-invoice software such as e-invoice, MISA meInvoice, FPT.eInvoice,… has maximally supported accounting processes.
• Marketing supports promoting brands and products, and simultaneously approaches and personalizes customer experience through strategies, channels, and tools.
• Management system uses the resource and operational processes software to enhance the seamlessness and performance of the entire ecommerce system. The most popular management systems are ERP, CRM, IMS, POS, OFM, etc.

How has the ecommerce ecosystem developed and perfected?

Stage 1: The fundamental ecommerce ecosystem

In the 1st stage, while customers are not been aware of their purchasing needs, the ecommerce ecosystem has fundamentally formed, beginning to approach, educate and stimulate consumers’ concern about brands and products.

Basic components (4/9): Infrastructure, Platform, Marketplace, Marketing

• Infrastructure: essentially participating in the ecosystem, mainly using desktop and network devices, data systems, and facilities to support operating other components inside the ecosystem.
• Platform: building website on simple platforms, including simple ecommerce interface and functions.
• Marketplace: implementing sales on the ecommerce marketplaces to run sales-efficiency experiments, increase brand popularity, and approach a wide range of users for nurturing potential customers.
• Marketing: using social media, advertising, content, email,… to increase views, and traffic and build awareness of brands, products, and services in the potential customer mindset.

Highlight components: Marketplace, Marketing

Inchoate components: Development, Payment, Shipping, Accounting and Management

Stage 2: The basic-operating ecommerce ecosystem

Customers become aware of their needs at this stage. As a result, the ecosystem comes into operation to approach potential customer needs.

Basic components (8/9): Infrastructure, Marketplace, Platform, Development, Marketing, Payment, Shipping, Accounting

• Infrastructure: well-developed, ensuring all the seamless processes and interactions among components.
• Marketplace: maintaining sales operation with constantly renewed programs and events to attract potential customers.
• Platform: operating the end-to-end system, continuously updating new versions to enhance the increasing performance.
• Development: developing and operating the ecommerce system and continuously improving system productivity.
• Payment: perfecting the payment processing system and fully integrating payment gateways.
• Shipping: perfecting the shipping system and partnering with shipping providers to deliver the first orders.
• Accounting: completing the accounting and financial system to manage all ecommerce transactions
• Marketing:
  • Increasing web-display frequency on search engines to increase brand and product identification and attract more potential targets.
  • Continue promoting social channels, advertising, content, email,… to improve the experience, education, and conversions for target customers.

Highlight components: Marketing, Payment, Shipping, Accounting

Inchoate components: Management

Stage 3: The advance-operating ecommerce ecosystem

The ecosystem enhances operation with many essential functions to directly navigate customers’ searching and buying considerations, thereby increasing the customer funnel conversion.

Advanced components (8/9): Infrastructure, Development, Marketplace, Platform, Payment, Shipping, Accounting, Marketing

Maintaining components: Infrastructure, Development, Marketplace, Accounting

Highlight components: Platform, Payment, Shipping, Marketing

• Platform: investing in developing the ecommerce system with a dedicated platform to operate and process complicated functions optimally.
  • Developing new functions to optimize user experience: interface renewal, promotion features (pop-up, banner,…), customer service (live-chat, chatbot),…
  • Optimizing the “Call-to-action” function and gathering emails on the website, at the same time implementing sale-off, and promotion programs to increase conversion
• Payment: integrating more payment methods to diversify the checkout experience, from COD payment, and internet banking to VISA, Mastercard, or e-wallets.
• Shipping: optimizing the packaging process, improving delivery speed by partnering with transportation providers or building an in-house delivery team, in addition, optimizing operational processes for instant order fulfillment.
• Marketing:
  • Website: concentrating on blog content and optimizing product detail content.
  • Continuously maintaining Social Marketing performance
  • Focusing on the email channel to nurture and stimulate potential customers.

Inchoate components: Management

Stage 4: The optimal-operating ecommerce ecosystem

When customers transition to the decision-making stage of purchasing, the ecosystem maximizes effectiveness in all processes and operational components, simultaneously focusing on developing conversion functions through continuous improvement and innovation of marketing components.

Optimal components (9/9): Infrastructure, Development, Marketplace, Platform, Payment, Shipping, Accounting, Marketing, Management

Maintaining components: Infrastructure, Development, Marketplace, Platform, Payment, Shipping, Accounting

Highlight components: Marketing, Management

• Marketing: focus on ecommerce marketing strategy
  • Implementing email plans to remind abandoned carts to stimulate potential customers constantly
  • Maintaining customer service using email channels to gather customer feedback and reviews while using products
  • Promoting loyalty programs with discounts, accruing points, membership cards,… to increase return customers
• Management: 
  • Integrating ERP software to manage data, human resources, and processes more seamlessly
  • Synchronizing Website with ERP and CRM to optimize operational processes and increase customer funnel conversion

Stage 5: The complete ecommerce ecosystem

All the ecosystem components are complete and effectively interact with each other. In addition, the ecosystem is directed towards operating maintenance to support product experience, customer retention, and return-customer stimulation.

Optimal components (9/9): Infrastructure, Development, Marketplace, Platform, Payment, Shipping, Accounting, Marketing, Management

Maintaining components: Infrastructure, Marketplace, Payment, Shipping, Accounting, Marketing

Highlight components: Platform, Development, Management

• Platform: using customer reviews to improve the quality of products, services, and system functions
• Development: providing solutions and developing specialized functions for a much more complex ecommerce system
• Management: seamlessly operating and managing all data, processes, and resources among website, ERP, CRM, and POS systems

Barriers Facing the ecommerce ecosystem in Vietnam

Although the ecommerce ecosystem in Vietnam is proliferating, it is being hampered by substantial barriers.

Outside barriers

Legal issues in ecommerce

In comparison to the general Vietnam market, ecommerce would be a relatively new business. As a result, the legal framework for ecommerce remains inadequate and disorganised. In which tax, security, and information authentication in e-transactions, intellectual property rights, etc., have not been adequately safeguarded by legal means.

The disparity between the legal framework’s perfection and the faster market change makes ecommerce challenging to control or at threat of unhealthy growth.

Circular No.47/2014/TT-BCT on the management of ecommerce websites, particularly, contains guidelines on the ecommerce business registration process and procedures. However, their controlling method has not been carried out properly, resulting in fewer registered businesses than actual statistics.

Therefore, most of the legalities of starting ecommerce business have not been verified, leading to transaction fraud and other fraud. More serious are domain misappropriation and spoofing by hackers to business counterfeiting, causing severe damage to businesses and consumers.

This shows that the current legal framework needs to enforce more specific steps to prevent attacks from cybercrime.

Consumer confidence

One of the significant barriers is the reality that occurs throughout the purchase process. For example, product and service quality issues, typically the quality assurance process (for counterfeits, poor quality products), transaction frauds (credit account takeover), and shipping (fraudulent goods exchange in packaging and shipping),… all have a direct impact on customer interests and the healthy, sustainable growth of the ecommerce ecosystem.

Investment barriers

Another significant barrier is the competition and investment budgets among businesses. In particular, data security requirements and infrastructure investments are putting financial pressure on existing ecommerce businesses. As a result, the ecommerce ecosystem is primarily controlled by the expansion of marketplaces and international businesses investing in the Vietnam market.

 Inside barriers

Although the current number of ecommerce ecosystem components is fully completed, the uneven development level makes interactions and operational processes sporadic and challenging to achieve optimal growth. The challenges have mainly come from:

• Ecommerce infrastructure: The limitations of infrastructure, facilities, and capacity to access technology in rural areas create notable gaps compared to urban areas, affecting market coverage in Vietnam.
• Logistics: Logistics infrastructure has fallen behind ecommerce growth. The inequitable synchronization between logistics services and the lack of technology are still significant barriers for almost all SME logistics businesses in Vietnam.
• Payment: Cash payment (COD) accounts for a high percentage, 60%, of transactions in the entire e-payment market share. This creates more risk when parcel refusal and failed deliveries make the order fulfilment process more costly and time-consuming.

Besides, the most significant barrier is the lack of a strong connection among ecosystem components to bring unifying and synchronous ecommerce solutions. The current connections are commonly between marketplaces and shipping providers or digital banking/e-wallets to provide economical and intriguing solutions for consumers.

However, that seamless and unified connectivity has not yet evolved to maximize business interactions in the ecosystem and among businesses in the ecommerce market.

Solutions for SMEs

The ecommerce ecosystem completion is a sustainable foundation for SMEs to build and implement ecommerce business plans aligned with each business stage while generating a complete ecosystem for themselves.

About the number of components

Businesses should determine the suitable components according to each business model and growth stage.

For example, a small and medium-sized enterprise would use the essential ecommerce components, such as the platform, to develop a complete ecommerce system, complete payment, shipping, and integration processes integrating more management software, namely CRM, POS, accounting, and marketing tools. 

Nevertheless, a medium/large-sized enterprise can integrate ERP for resource operation or omnichannel for efficient expansion.

About timeline

Following the identified ecosystem components, a business can estimate the appropriate timeline to promote in-time business processes, fully satisfying the market requirements and customer needs. Thereby, the satisfaction enhances the planning efficiency and the ecommerce ecosystem.

About the implementing budget
The budget would be distributed more specifically once the essential ecosystem components are clearly defined for your business model. Determining the proper budget is a critical factor for SMEs to successfully implement ecommerce and sustainably grow. This is especially important for existing SMEs due to the considerable budget pressures and the long-term investment process.

However, most of those SMEs still face many challenges in building their ecommerce plans. They have not adequately defined their business model’s needed and best-suited components, resulting in timeline and budget dilemmas.

With in-depth experience providing full-service ecommerce solutions, SECOMM will accompany businesses in respective stages of ecommerce implementation with tailor-made solutions.

Contact SECOMM to receive a comprehensive ecommerce consulting solution for your businesses.

The extraordinary growth of Vietnam’s ecommerce has recently given intriguing opportunities for SMEs. With the continuous innovation of cutting-edge technologies, SMEs have a significant competitive advantage of adaptability – they are willing to make constant changes to seize the chances more expeditiously than long-standing enterprises owning cumbersome processes. However, they may face an extra point of failure if there is no specific execution plan before officially kick-starting the ecommerce journey to catch up with the market’s development.

This article will give a clear visualization of a completed checklist for successful ecommerce implementation.

Collate ecommerce business objectives

For a successful and effective ecommerce implementation, all that matters first and foremost is to confirm the core ecommerce business objectives align with the timeline and budget.

Examine ecommerce objectives

Business needs to examine and compare all objectives between the ecommerce plan and a general business plan to ensure the ecommerce implementation is heading in the right direction. Furthermore, the examination assists them in arranging and prioritizing specific objectives that need to be carried out at every stage. Therein:

• Long-term objective: playing a navigational role, and creating a framework for ecommerce and business development. Long-term prospects could include sustainable development criteria in brand awareness, business value, total revenue, …
• Short-term objective: execute strategic planning for specific tasks, and measurable outcomes corresponding to a particular timeline. Short-term aims are branding, ecommerce revenue growth, boosting competitiveness, product quality/diversification, and service quality…

Examine timeline

Specific timeframes must be planned with the appropriate priority in each ecommerce stage to guarantee all the objectives meet deadlines. Businesses can create an anticipated calendar based on the main stages of an ecommerce journey, which includes: ecommerce planning, development, acceleration, and maintenance. Once a timeline overview is designed, it will be easier to determine the payback period to manage the budget appropriately.

Examine budget

Another essential point to examine before formulating checklists is to review the budget section. For current Vietnamese businesses, especially SMEs, a tight budget plan helps implement an appropriate and effective ecommerce roadmap in both the short and long term.

If the budget is still limited, businesses need to prioritize the implementation of the basic components of the ecommerce system and expand further in the following stages. However, when having sufficient financial resources, businesses can execute a comprehensive plan in every department, and every stage to enhance performance and develop sustainably.

Some considerable ecommerce costs in ecommerce business:

• Costs for operating resources, including in-house staff and outsourcing resources/partners
• Costs for technology infrastructure: hardware, software, internet
• Ecommerce business registration fee
• Business fee on ecommerce marketplaces
• Costs for ecommerce systems: website/app development, system integration (extensions, ERP, CRM,…), maintenance, …
• Payment: invoices, adjusting and refunding for cancelled/claimed orders,…
• Shipping: shipping fees, inventory holding cost, returning, handling arising issues…
• Marketing cost
• Financial management cost
• Customer service cost
• Other expenses

Once having examined ecommerce business objectives, including objectives, timeline, and budget, the businesses can develop a complete checklist to execute the official ecommerce implementation stage.

Checklist for ecommerce kick-start

Meet the legal requirements

To officially conduct ecommerce under the law, businesses need to meet the following elementary requirements (based on Decree No. 52/2021/ND-CP and Circular 47/2020/TT-BTC):

• Own a business registration certificate for a business or tax identification number for an individual
• The website has a legal domain and complies with Internet regulations on information management
• Proceed with account registration at the Ecommerce Management Portal
• Notify/Register with the Ministry of Industry and Trade about setting up ecommerce websites/applications
• Basic taxes for doing ecommerce business: value-added tax, profit tax, individual income tax

Choosing suitable ecommerce products

The legality of ecommerce products

Businesses need to ensure their products are not on the list of prohibited or restricted items.

Product quality and product origin

Product quality and supply are critical criteria for businesses looking to develop a sustainable ecommerce, and enhance business value and customer reliability. Additionally, stringent product quality control helps significantly restrict counterfeits and low-quality items on the market. Therefore, businesses need to ensure the supplier properly demonstrates the origin and quality of goods by specific documents and information:

• Supplier/seller censorship: Build a quality control team concerning legal documents proving the clear origin of goods
• On-site product monitoring for quickly removing counterfeits/knockoffs
• Develop the reporting/alert feature for counterfeits/knockoffs on the system, and quickly resolve the customer feedback with appropriate compensation policies, ensuring maximum customer benefit.
• Commit to “say no to fake goods”, functioning decrees from the Ministry of Industry and Trade to support the goods controlling processes optimally, ensure the e-customer interest and the healthy market.

Human resource and infrastructure readiness

Businesses might consider various human resource solutions to ensure that they comply with the ecommerce development plan. Businesses, in particular, can invest in developing with all their internal resources or entirely work with outsourcing partners because ecommerce services, partners, and service providers have developed significantly in recent years and can support businesses in implementing comprehensive and effective ecommerce externally. Furthermore, businesses can combine the use of internal teams with outsourcing partners.

Whether choosing outsourcing or in-house teams, there will be both advantages and disadvantages. Simultaneously, resource usage depends on the business’s budget, size, and long-term objectives. For existing ecommerce models, most businesses tend to associate with outsourcing partners, and resources to operate some of the business processes efficiently. To shorten the timeline while efficiently carrying out the optimal operation, businesses can consider main outsourcing partners for system development, transportation, and marketing. In which: 

• Ecommerce development partner: develop a comprehensive web/app system and ensure effective operational processes.
• Shipping partner: businesses can link up with shipping providers to operate order processing and delivery coordination quickly and efficiently.
• Payment partner: associate with payment service providers to develop a diverse payment system, highly supporting convenient, simple, and speedy shopping experiences.
• Ecommerce marketing partners: develop brands and market products to approach target customers quickly and increase business productivity.

Ecommerce infrastructure

Infrastructure lays a concrete foundation to maintain end-to-end commerce operations. In detail, the main components in hardware, software, network,… need completing to maximize the business performance.

• Hardware: Fully set up computer devices, facilities, routers, data centers, and servers… to store, access and harness data quickly, and seamlessly.
• Software: fully equipped with system management tools, procedures, analytic tools, and APIs, assisting the efficient connections, and interactions among software.
• Network: Make sure the businesses can communicate, and operate efficiently, safely inside-out via the Internet, DNS, firewall,…

Checklist for ecommerce development

Ecommerce channels development

Develop marketplace channel

Businesses can leverage Ecommerce platforms to initiate business operations before developing a website channel to test and measure sales effectiveness, while also increasing brand coverage and presence to reach a broader audience.

For ecommerce marketplace channel, businesses can execute the basic implementation plans below:

• Create genuine stores or flagship stores with complete and authentic information about brands and products
• Develop events, and shopping days with promotion codes, vouchers, and free shipping codes,… provided by ecommerce marketplaces to approach and attract potential customers continuously
• Maintain business performance with after-sales support functions.

Develop web channel

Website is the core system that businesses need to focus on in the ecommerce implementationstage. The tasks that need completing to develop a comprehensive website system include:

• Pick an ecommerce platform matching the business model
• Develop a comprehensive ecommerce system with a whole interface and functions based on the selected platform.
• Thoroughly review all front-end and back-end elements to minimize errors and optimize system performance before officially launching the website and promoting marketing campaigns at the next stage. In particular, the specific evaluation criteria can be mentioned as:
  • Review the front-end completion:
    • Home-page: Full display and navigation functions on the home-page
    • Search-page: Optimize the search page and search results, comes with advanced filtering and sorting feature to help customers seek the right needed products
    • Detailed product page: Provide complete information, images, product reviews, and display suggestion for similar products or same-brand products
    • Cart management page: The system displays full information about the products added to the cart, quantity, and total order value.
    • Payment and shipping page: Full content of delivery information, shipping options and payment methods
    • Content management page: Full brand content and ecommerce activities on the “About Brand” page, operation/privacy/return/warranty policy,…
  • Review the back-end completion of functions and processes:
    • User management: collect and manage whole data and information of every web-user
    • Cart management: help customers manage and adjust their cart conveniently with a total order value display/calculation system based on various group-pricing
    • Payment and shipping management: ensure the payment-to-shipping process is seamless to support the following order fulfillment

Develop mobile app

To enhance conversion rates and provide a multi-device user experience, businesses should consider developing an ecommerce application. Given the increasing trend of users shopping through mobile devices, an effective ecommerce app needs to address personalized customer experience factors alongside corresponding ecommerce functions on the website:

• Program the app system with complete interface elements, functions, and APIs corresponding to the web system.
• Develop an interface that supports user experience on every mobile device, anytime, anywhere.
• With the app, additional push notification systems can be developed to help customers stay updated on news, promotions, events, mini-games, etc., daily to stimulate purchases.
• Combine push notification effects with continuously changing pop-up ads in the app interface to quickly engage customers with promotional programs.
• Implement promotional programs tailored to each customer segment: discount codes for new customers, buy one get one free for loyal customers, birthday gifts for customers, etc.
• Optimize the customer experience with quick and convenient one-touch operations (login, payment, etc.).

Operation optimization – Inventory, Payment and Shipping

Optimizing the warehouse, payment, and shipping systems will support businesses in processing orders, coordinating, and delivering goods quickly as soon as customers complete their orders.

Payment: Businesses need to review the processes on the current system and ensure they operate according to the initial requirements of the business. At the same time, businesses also need to assess the availability and efficiency of the payment gateways currently used on the system (COD, card payment, e-wallets, etc.) to optimize for user convenience.

Warehouse management: Businesses may consider using warehouse management software from ERP systems or specialized software (warehouse management solutions like SWM, ECOUNT, Netsuite, etc.) to control the efficiency of the warehouse system and quickly coordinate order processing processes to shorten the time to complete Ecommerce orders.

Shipping: Businesses can use transportation support software to ensure that the delivery process is accurate and fast. At the same time, businesses can implement express delivery programs, same-day delivery, delivery within 2 hours, etc., to boost transportation efficiency and provide an optimal experience for customers.

Solutions that help optimize accurate and fast transportation efficiency include:

• Planning transportation, monitoring the status of transportation/orders, and verifying delivery to ensure the correct product is delivered to the right order recipient.
• Coordinating the transportation team and optimizing delivery routes from the system’s receiving points while controlling delivery performance helps speed up the transportation process.

Ecommerce Marketing

To promote brand positioning, optimize conversion efficiency, and maximize business effectiveness, businesses need to prepare a comprehensive plan for deploying Ecommerce Marketing.

SEO

An ecommerce website system that is optimized for SEO before its official launch greatly supports increasing search rankings and the visibility of the website. Additionally, SEO is an important factor in optimizing the user experience. To ensure that the SEO functionality works effectively throughout the system, businesses can assess through the following criteria:

• Establish SSL security certificates for the website.
• Create a sitemap for the website with a comprehensive page and category structure.
• Create a robots.txt file to block indexing on pages that need to secure information or unnecessary pages for SEO: user account registration/login pages, transaction history, shopping cart, discontinued product pages, etc.
• Optimize URL structures to support indexing and more effective customer journey navigation.
• Improve and optimize page loading speed.
• Integrate analytics tools to support SEO and marketing index analysis:
  • Google Search Console
  • Google Analytics
  • Google Tag Manager
  • Ahrefs
• Regarding content:
  • Ensure high-quality, non-duplicated content from other sources.
  • Distribute keywords adequately within the content, specifically in the page URL, title, subtitle, page description, and in the detailed content, name/URL/ALT tag/caption of images.
  • Build internal links between content pages for efficient content navigation and enhance the overall website’s SEO value.
  • Establish external links to increase the website’s trustworthiness on search engines.
  • Ensure that links to the website’s social media channels are fully integrated.

Social Media

Businesses need to focus on building their brand presence on social media to pave the way for product marketing campaigns. Increasing the brand’s visibility on social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), etc., helps reach a broader audience, aims to educate users about the brand, and creates stronger attention when launching the official ecommerce platform.

Email

A smart and effective email plan helps businesses maximize conversion rates and develop a long-term network of loyal customers. A comprehensive email system needs to be continuously deployed to nurture the customer’s buying journey, including:

• Welcome emails for new customers
• Notification emails for promotions and new products
• Reminder emails for abandoned carts
• Confirmation emails for successful orders
• Thank-you emails after placing an order
• Announcement emails for up-selling and cross-selling programs for subsequent orders
• Special emails for loyal customers
• Support emails for handling returns, refunds, order cancellations, and post-purchase care

Paid Ads

Paid advertising channels play a crucial role in ecommerce marketing strategies, providing optimal conversion efficiency and rapidly driving sales growth. Businesses can leverage various forms of paid advertising to reach and attract a broader audience using popular channels such as Google Adwords, Facebook, Instagram, Coc Coc, Zalo, YouTube, and Affiliate Marketing.

After deploying ecommerce marketing channels, it’s essential to capitalize on the existing marketing effectiveness to continue optimizing business and conversion capabilities in the customer funnel.

• Website: Optimize product content by enhancing product images, and introductory videos, and building a blog content system to stimulate customer interest in learning more about the products. Enhance interaction and increase conversion potential on the website. Additionally, businesses can develop new features on the website, such as interface innovation, advertising features, customer service through FAQ pages, and live chat/chatbots to provide customers with new experiences.
• Social Media: Strengthen the ability to reach a diverse user base through social media channels. Provide positive reviews, useful content, and product promotions with appealing designs, directing users to the shopping page to create an optimal shopping experience for multi-channel users.
• Advertising: Boost paid advertising campaigns through Google, social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.), and affiliate marketing to reach a broader audience and optimize the conversion rate.

Finance

Using financial software helps businesses control and manage transaction data related to orders and customers more efficiently, providing effective support for lookup processes and quickly addressing complaints and issues arising from orders. To choose suitable electronic invoice software for ecommerce financial management processes, businesses can consider the following criteria:

• Legal Compliance: Provide complete, valid, and reliable information to ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations.
• Stability: The software ensures quality and maintains stable performance during usage.
• Security: Ensure the safety and secure storage of all data, facilitating easy access, use, and manipulation of stored data. This involves preventing unauthorized access to sensitive information.
• Transparency: Support customers in easily looking up invoice information and assist customer service in quickly resolving issues based on data from invoices. This ensures customer rights are protected during the process of purchasing and conducting ecommerce transactions.

Management system

Integrating management systems helps businesses improve operational efficiency and ensure seamless integration between the ecommerce system and various resource and process management systems within the enterprise. Depending on the needs, budget, and business model, businesses can choose to integrate key management systems such as human resources management, customer management, supply chain management, financial management, and production management, or use comprehensive Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions to maximize operational efficiency for the business.

Checklist for ecommerce acceleration with Omni-channel

During the business optimization phase, the focus should be on customer experience and personalization in the customer journey. Therefore, a seamless and synchronized multi-channel ecommerce operation process from a centralized management system will be an optimal plan for effective revenue.

A synchronized and unified multi-channel management system will support businesses in:

• Synchronizing all product data, customer data, promotion programs, events, and sales systems from offline to online channels.
• Increasing interaction and touchpoints at each customer journey on each channel to understand the precise needs of customers and the issues they are facing, thereby optimizing product quality, service quality, and marketing strategy.
• Efficiently coordinating product transportation between warehouses and from warehouses to customers.

Additionally, during this phase, businesses also need to upgrade the performance of the current system and develop highly specialized and complex functions to maximize the ecommerce system, support personalized customer experiences, and maintain loyal customers, thus optimizing the long-term sustainability of ecommerce business efficiency.

Common difficulties when executing the ecommerce implementation checklist

To successfully deploy ecommerce, a comprehensive checklist system will prepare the business thoroughly before officially initiating, developing, and optimizing operations. However, this preparation process requires significant investment in both budget and time to ensure that the ecommerce plan progresses on schedule, bringing short-term and long-term business effectiveness.

The challenges of time and budget for implementation and ecommerce business operations are significant barriers for most small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, in the current boom of the ecommerce market, businesses also need to develop a complete ecommerce system quickly to keep up with the market.

In addition, SMEs also need to implement specific operational plans, and continuously improve the performance of the system, technology, processes, and resources to maintain business momentum and meet the demands of the digital market.

Faced with various market influences, the demand for developing eCommerce systems among businesses in Vietnam is gradually becoming more defined and undergoing a stronger transformation. The Covid-19 crisis, in particular, has been a significant catalyst accelerating this transformation process rapidly.

So, how should businesses chart their journey in developing an eCommerce system to not only adapt to market and customer changes but also seize opportunities and excel in this highly competitive arena?

In general, the development journey of eCommerce systems for Vietnamese businesses, from the initiation of business to expanding the scale with a specialized eCommerce system, typically goes through three important milestones.

Businesses need to thoroughly understand these milestones and coordinate with a detailed examination of goals, budgets, and the current state of the business to devise an appropriate and tailored development journey.

Operating on eCommerce Marketplaces

The emergence of the eCommerce marketplace has efficiently addressed the online buying and selling needs not only for small online shops, startup businesses, and small to medium-sized enterprises but also for large brands.

With an extensive operational system,  eCommerce marketplaces create many favourable opportunities for businesses and individual small-scale entrepreneurs with budget constraints. By only incurring basic expenses for setting up a storefront and annual maintenance fees, businesses and store owners can quickly have their shops.

Additionally, processes such as payment, shipping, customer care, post-delivery issue resolution, and marketing programs are simplified with comprehensive support from eCommerce marketplaces. Choosing an eCommerce marketplace to initiate business is a suitable start, helping businesses increase brand coverage, competitive ability, and sales volume at cost savings.

Even large brands/brands that have developed offline are currently utilizing eCommerce marketplaces to penetrate and expand the market. For developed brands and traditional businesses looking to transition to online business,  eCommerce marketplaces are the right starting point to test eCommerce business.

From there, businesses can build a comprehensive eCommerce development strategy, from eCommerce marketplace to social commerce, brand.com website development, and implementing an omnichannel approach.

In Vietnam, popular eCommerce marketplaces such as Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Sendo, etc., are favoured by many businesses. With a massive monthly user base and attractive promotion programs, diverse service systems, eCommerce marketplaces maximize support for sellers in swiftly bringing their brands and products to the market through simple steps:

• Create a new storefront and optimize the brand: Consider deploying an official or flagship store (Shopee Mall, Official store, Lazmall, etc.) to enhance brand credibility and product quality.
• Perfect the product system with complete information, authentication, and beautiful and appealing images.
• Utilize the features and services provided by the eCommerce marketplace to develop sales activities. Additionally, invest in advertising programs and special events on the platform to boost sales.
• Maintain business efficiency by taking care of existing customers with exclusive discount programs, promptly addressing order issues, and post-purchase complaints to improve the customer experience and enhance store reputation.

Despite the significant benefits of doing business on eCommerce marketplaces, businesses and individuals are subject to substantial dependence on policy and operational changes. They also face limitations in accessing and leveraging potential customer data to improve marketing efficiency or personalize the customer experience. Furthermore, businesses must directly compete with a large number of similar stores and brands on the platform regarding pricing and product quality.

Developing a Basic eCommerce System

In addition to doing business on eCommerce marketplaces, businesses can independently develop a basic eCommerce system, getting closer to potential customers and implementing their own eCommerce Marketing programs.

Developing a basic eCommerce system does not require excessive investment in time, development costs, or website programming. Businesses only need to use free website-building tools with available interfaces and features to easily create a website through simple drag-and-drop operations.

Some popular website building tools in the current Vietnamese market that support the development of a simple eCommerce system include Sapo, Haravan, and Nhanh.vn.

Sapo

• The Sapo web solution supports building a responsive and visually appealing website interface with a diverse range of available interfaces for various fields.
• A diverse product ecosystem that seamlessly supports Sapo web business: Sapo POS, Sapo Go, Sapo Omni, Sapo Express, Sapo Pay, Sapo Enterprise…
• Integration of effective features, analysis tools, marketing, advertising, and conversion promotion.
• Linking sales on eCommerce marketplaces and selling through Facebook social media.
• Integration of multiple payment methods: manual payment (COD, bank transfer) and automatic payments such as e-wallets (Moca, Momo, Zalopay), payment gateways (VNPay, Paypal), card payments…
• Collaboration with major delivery partners in Vietnam such as Giao Hàng Nhanh, Ninja Van, J&T Express…
• Cost-effective eCommerce system development with three main solution packages:
  • Basic: 299,000 VND/month
  • Pro: 499,000 VND/month
  • Omni-channel: 599,000 VND/month

Haravan

• Similar to Sapo, Haravan also offers a diverse range of interfaces for various fields, both free and paid, with compatibility across most devices.
• Integration of a diverse range of applications, supporting various eCommerce business models, especially Print on Demand or Dropshipping.
• Support for eCommerce functions with an application system that seamlessly operates marketing, order processing, payment, and shipping.
• Collaboration with many popular domestic and international shipping partners: Giao Hàng Nhanh, ViettelPost, DHL, AhaMove, GrabExpress,…
• Integration of payments through e-wallets (Momo/Zalopay), domestic ATM cards, international payment gateways (Paypal),…
• Support for multi-channel business with eCommerce marketplaces (Shopee, Tiki, Lazada),…
• Development of eCommerce business support solutions: Harafunnel chatbot solution and Harasocial Facebook sales management solution.
• Cost-effective and tailored to the business needs of each enterprise:
  • Business startup and Omni-channel management package:
    • Standard: 200,000 VND/month
    • Pro: 600,000 VND/month
  • Business growth package:
    • Grow: 1,500,000 VND/month
    • Scale: 3,000,000 VND/month

Nhanh.web

• Supports rapid website design tailored to each industry with a diverse interface repository.
• Provides essential SEO and Marketing features, including Email and SMS, live chat, and analytical tools.
• Integration of various payment methods: Bao Kim, OnePay, VNPay…
• Collaboration with major shipping partners: Giao Hàng Nhanh, ViettelPost, Giao Hàng Tiết Kiệm,…
• Supports sales on Facebook and seamlessly integrates sales management software from online to offline.
• 3 options for developing an eCommerce system with Nhanh.web:
  • Basic package: 3,600,000 VND/year
  • Optimal package: 7,200,000 VND/3 years
  • Savings package: 10,800,000 VND/5 years

Based on criteria such as simplicity, availability, time and cost savings, most of these tools will meet the basic needs of developing an eCommerce system. However, available website design tools also pose several challenges, limiting business operations and eCommerce expansion:

• Limited customization capabilities as choices rely on available options, leading to interface and design concept duplications among websites in the same industry. This makes it challenging to create a unique brand identity and store. Additionally, it complicates the development of features aligned with the customer journey, optimization of customer experience, and integration with internal systems used by the business.
• Although the initial fixed website development costs may seem reasonable every month, businesses often incur additional costs for using extensions or invest a significant amount in developing new functions and specialized features for their systems on these platforms.
• Lack of website source code ownership makes it difficult for businesses to control and poses a risk of losing the entire existing website. Furthermore, this situation complicates the transition of an eCommerce system to new platforms, especially concerning data migration.

Developing a Specialized eCommerce System

Typically, after a period of doing business on eCommerce platforms or using available website design tools, businesses gradually recognize the need to develop a specialized eCommerce system designed to propel a sustainable eCommerce journey.

Developing a specialized eCommerce system requires both experience and substantial investment in terms of costs and deployment time. However, this approach proves to be a cost-effective solution for the long-term business plans of companies, delivering sustainable business efficiency, and serving as a perfect transition for an independent and comprehensive eCommerce system.

Developing a specialized eCommerce system will maximize meeting various needs, such as:

• Abundant Built-in Features: Comprehensive eCommerce functionalities including Product Category Management, Sales Management, Marketing Management, Customer Management, Store Management, Inventory Management, etc.
• Easy Customization and Development: The ability to customize and develop in-depth functions, especially those related to industry-specific requirements, brand development, user preference changes, and optimizing the customer experience. This ensures meeting the business development needs and customer usage demands while allowing for the quick adoption of new technologies to stay competitive in the market.
• Diverse Payment Integration: Proactive integration of various payment methods, from cash payments to payment gateways and e-wallets, enhancing convenience and diversifying the payment experience. Easy collaboration with multiple shipping partners in the market and internal shipper management provides customers with various delivery options.
• Advanced Integration Capability: Enhanced integration with the systems the business is currently using, such as ERP, CRM, BI, optimizing the system and analyzing customer data, and sales data, contributing to revenue improvement, and promoting personalized features to maximize the customer experience.
• Scalability: Easy scalability of business scope, deployment, and management of multi-channel eCommerce: website, eCommerce platforms, and social media, all within a unified system.
• Data Ownership: Possession of all customer data without dependency, enabling businesses to proactively reach potential audiences with suitable marketing programs to optimize user experience and increase conversion rates.
• Full Source Code Ownership: Owning the entire source code of the website system provides flexibility in developing and upgrading necessary features for customers, aligning with the business development needs.
• Optimized Website Performance and High Security: Ensuring optimal website performance and high-security standards for eCommerce transactions.

Among the specialized eCommerce platforms widely used by businesses today, such as Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce, Magento stands out with significant advantages and caters to all business needs from simple to complex. Many multinational corporations currently leverage Magento to build sophisticated eCommerce systems, including names like Samsung, Nike, Coca-Cola, Lenovo, Olympus, Port, Pox, Nestle, BevMo, Burger King, and Murad, among others. Additionally, millions of small and medium-sized eCommerce sites worldwide are also built on this platform.

• Magento (Adobe Commerce) possesses an extensive and diverse ecosystem. With a comprehensive set of built-in features for eCommerce, Magento also can integrate with third-party technologies, an extensive system of extensions with many advanced support features to optimize the efficiency of eCommerce operations on the system. In addition, the platform supports integration with most existing partners in payment, shipping, and management software,… and provides quick technical support from the global technical community.
• Owning all the advantages of an open-source platform, Magento has the ability to customize designs and develop specialized functional systems for each industry, business model, and enterprise needs. At the same time, Magento’s high scalability allows businesses to operate multiple stores simultaneously with multiple languages on the same system.
• High security ensures the safe and efficient operation of all eCommerce processes, increasing the reliability of the website and maximizing the protection of the rights of eCommerce users.

With all the outstanding advantages of a specialized eCommerce platform, Magento is undoubtedly a suitable choice for both B2B and B2C businesses, catering to businesses of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises.

Contact SECOMM for a detailed consultation on the comprehensive and sustainable development journey of your eCommerce system for businesses. 

Also, explore Magento solutions tailored specifically for SMEs in Vietnam!

SaaS eCommerce Platform

A SaaS eCommerce Platform is a service delivery paradigm for developing a software-based website system. Data is kept on the provider’s server system under this approach, and that platform is in charge of dealing with technical concerns for the business.

Advantages of SaaS eCommerce Platform

Available eCommerce system

The provider pre-designs the SaaS platform for the full system, from hosting, interface, and features to technological infrastructure maintenance. As a result, organizations can quickly create and manage a website system without worrying about technological concerns.

Furthermore, the platform developer offers firms 24/7 assistance through live chat, desk help, or a hotline while the platform is in operation.

Various interfaces and functionalities

The SaaS eCommerce Platform includes a multitude of functionality and appealing UX/UI interfaces, making it suitable for a variety of businesses.

Furthermore, these platforms include a wide range of essential eCommerce functions, including product administration, order management, customer management, marketing, business analysis, and reporting to let firms quickly develop an e-commerce website. Moreover, extensions such as Omni-channel, Affiliate Marketing, E-Payment, E-Logistic, and so on are constantly added to these platforms to strengthen the e-commerce system.

Quick implementation

The time it takes to establish a website on a SaaS eCommerce Platform is quite fast, ranging from 1 to 7 days on average, depending on the website’s setup.

Affordable investment budget

The initial building cost is pretty cheap because firms would pay monthly or yearly use fees (subscription-based) to establish a website using SaaS eCommerce Platforms, such as:

• Haravan: 
  • Standard (200,000 VND/month): Appropriate for independent sellers
  • Pro (600,000 VND/month): For organizations who wish to implement Omnichannel
  • Grow (1,500,000 VND/month): For firms need automating processes to take care of and resell current customers
  • Scale (3,000,000 VND/month): Help establish loyal customers
• Shopify:
  • Basic Shopify ($29/month): Suitable for new businesses with small sales.
  • Shopify ($79/month): Appropriate for growing online enterprises
  • Advanced Shopify ($299/month): Ideal for firms that need to expand and want advanced reporting capabilities.
• BigCommerce:
  • Standard: $29.95/month for businesses with more than $50,000 in revenue
  • Plus: $79.95/month for enterprises with more than $180,000 in revenue
  • Pro: $299.95/month for companies with more than $400.000 in revenue
  • Enterprise: For firms with high sales volumes, costs will be calculated depending on the brand’s online sales

Aside from the monthly/yearly licensing charge, businesses must pay extra expenditures such as interface fees, new features, expanding the number of backend users, and POS (Point of Sale) to grow the eCommerce system.

Disadvantages of SaaS eCommerce Platform

Having no control over the source code and data

Because the enterprise’s whole website system is housed on the provider’s server, ownership and control of the website source code will belong to that platform, not the firm.  Businesses who transfer platforms can no longer utilize the previous site source code and must rebuild from scratch on the new platform. Moreover, data loss or misalignment is usually unavoidable.

The enterprise’s data, like the source code, is likewise kept on the provider’s server, thus ownership and control over the data remains constrained. There are many difficulties for not owning and controlling data, such as linking data between departments, customizing users, and so on.

Poor scalability and flexibility

Because the website system depends on the SaaS platform, customization and expansion are currently limited. When it comes to upgrading existing features, developing new functions for the company’s development, in line with the particular requirements of the product and industry, and optimizing the user experience, SaaS platforms are frequently unable to adapt. As a result, switching platforms after a period of usage is unavoidable, and of course, this change will take significant time and money for the company.

Usage costs increase over time

Because you must pay monthly or yearly license fees, the longer you use the higher the overall cost of use. Furthermore, the SaaS eCommerce Platform charges on the revenue online sales.

For example, various Shopify apps, such as DCart (Create Discount Codes on Cart), OctaneAI (Similar Product Suggestions), Ali Reviews (Product Reviews), and others, would charge a monthly fee, average $10 /month/features. The more applications that are installed, the more the monthly or yearly expenses will be.

Businesses can use the SaaS platform if they wish to enter the e-commerce industry rapidly, have minimal need for customization, and do not need to enhance the system. As a result, SaaS systems are frequently selected by startups, SMEs (small and medium enterprises), and businesses just getting started in the e-commerce industry.

Open Source eCommerce Platform

Open Source is software whose source code is publicly available and freely used by anyone.

Because the data and source code will be housed on a separate server system, Open Source eCommerce Platforms have the opposite aspects of SaaS platforms. Businesses that use open source platforms must collaborate with professional website developers or build a highly specialized in-house team for the website system to achieve maximum efficiency.

Advantages of Open Source eCommerce Platform

Control the data and own the source code.

Businesses have complete ownership and control over the source code and data on the system due to the characteristic of being housed on a separate server system. As a consequence, while deploying an eCommerce website, companies only need to pay development expenses in order to utilize the source code, rather than monthly/yearly license fees just like SaaS platforms. At this point, you could reuse the previous source code if you change developers or platforms. Furthermore, security is improved, reducing hacker attacks, server failures, and technical faults from staff and consumers.

Customize the interface to meet your requirements.

Businesses have more choices in developing their website’s interface to boost brand image and maximize revenue since they use Open Source eCommerce Platforms.

Currently, there are three methods for designing interfaces:

• Use pre-existing themes: Like SaaS platforms, organizations can select and use pre-existing themes from the market, development community, or cooperation unit. This method will help businesses save the most money since a standard UX/UI theme costs between $50 and $200 on average.
• Customize the interface based on an existing theme: Similar to the preceding method, but instead of purchasing and using the same theme, firms may design their own traits by rewriting the website’s code at the front-end. Since then, organizations have cut expenses while also expressing their own distinct characteristics.
• Create your own user interface: To effectively position the brand on the website, the interface should be created individually. This is typically more expensive than utilizing a theme, but it addresses the most particular and specific requirements of the company.

Full of features and add-ons

In terms of website system features, Open Source eCommerce Platforms are quite superior to SaaS platforms. Not only have basic functions, but Open Source eCommerce Platforms also have many advanced features such as quick search, similar product suggestions, abandoned cart notifications, real-time products, and so on.

In addition, the Open Source eCommerce Platforms also has many add-ons that are improved, provided, and shared by the developer community.

Great flexibility

Because organizations control their own source code, they can simply update the functional system, build new features, or expand the system to suit business demands and meet consumer needs. At the same time, the open-source code’s flexibility allows businesses to easily link with third-party utilities in order to run the system.

Disadvantages of Open Source eCommerce Platform

Require a professional team or experienced developer

It is hard to build “tailor-made” systems for each firm with a system of various e-commerce features ranging from basic to complex, therefore systems developed on open source e-commerce platforms frequently have high accuracy.  As a result, in order to build and function efficiently, a specialized team or development organization must have strong knowledge and several years of experience.

Prolonged setup time

Deployment times for open source e-commerce platforms are frequently lengthier than those for SaaS platforms. Depending on the complexity of the functional system, the average amount of time for the IT team to build a website varies from 3 months to 1 year.

Expensive development

Using an open-source platform is basically free, but having a full e-commerce system from website to mobile app needs a significant commitment of your own labor. The in-house IT team will design interfaces and functions. As a result, the initial cost of developing an e-commerce website using an open-source platform is pretty expensive, an average of $10,000 per project.

The Open Source eCommerce Platform is suited for all sorts of enterprises due to its numerous features. However, budget and implementation time restrictions have kept many small and medium-sized businesses from utilizing it. Large firms frequently engage in these platforms to construct specialized and specialized eCommerce systems.

In general, the decision of which eCommerce platform to select will be determined by each firm’s business plan, budget, and time of eCommerce development.

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