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COVER STORY

services and app-powered solutions. Many and systems, we had to reorganize our where consumers have tremendous visibility
stores and businesses are only starting floor operations team in order to better of prices and competing products and geo-
down this route, at which stage simply serve this growing channel.” graphical proximity doesn’t matter.
appearing on e-commerce apps and social To quickly adapt to social distancing Bounded in the overall business land-
media and rolling out non-cash payment and lockdowns, MM Vietnam is imple- scape, MM Vietnam has identified both
options could yield immediate results. menting online order deliveries in the challenges and opportunities. Quality con-
At PNJ, the scale of online business was form of essential food combos or pre- trol from the end-users will be more chal-
small before Covid-19 but when the pan- packed food to serve customers in lockdown lenging than shopping in a traditional
demic struck online orders increased. “The areas. Since the fourth outbreak hit, it has bricks-and-mortar store. “Our competitive
company therefore had to change to catch adopted action plans in online shopping advantages are that we have the source–
up with trend,” Mr. Thong said. “For example, services to offer customers optimal and controlled supply chain, transit stations,
it had to supplement online order processing safe shopping experiences during the and warehouses all over the country,” Mr.
centers in different areas to meet customer lengthened social distancing period. It is Jousselin said. “Our e-commerce platform
needs. This year, PNJ has adopted a timely also studying and attempting to put into is just in the initial phase. However, we will
response in implementing online activities, practice the Pick & Go service powered by seriously invest in e-commerce to continu-
bringing convenient online services to both AI technology in the near future. This ously improve the customer experience and
serve customers and meet pandemic pre- approach is promising and effective for e- catch up with trends in a sustainable manner.
vention measures. Realizing that demand commerce applications. Our future model will definitely be a hybrid,
for home shopping is increasing strongly, with a smart and profitable mix between
in addition to improving purchasing chan- DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION offline and online sales and between pro-
nels such as via a hotline or Facebook, PNJ BARRIERS fessional and end-user consumers.”
has been taking advantage of the opportunity Small businesses have proved far faster Guardian Vietnam, meanwhile, has been
to make convenient improvements for cus- in adopting digital solutions during the overcoming a lot of e-commerce problems
tomers on its website.” pandemic than their larger counterparts, while adapting to the digital commerce
Guardian Vietnam has quickly applied according to Ms. Dung from Visa. “This is business. “The first issue is customers’
a consistent and thorough O2O (online to understandable, as their operations are exploding expectations, as competing in
offline) business model amid the pandemic, far less complex, and integrating new solu- the market and fulfilling the ever-evolving
which remains a key strategy. With its tions affects the everyday routines of fewer customer demands is a huge challenge for
O2O model, customers can order at its people and requires the adjustment of retailers today,” said Mr. Tran Trong Huy
official stores on Shopee and Lazada and fewer protocols,” she said. “However, larger Thong, Retail Marketing Manager at
have goods delivered to their door or even businesses have the wherewithal to acquire Guardian Vietnam. “Secondly, agile trans-
receive goods immediately through the the best technology and practices to make formation is challenging because it’s at the
Guardian store on GrabMart. the transformation truly impactful. This heart of digital business, and scaling is
It is clear that digital transformation is is what the future of business will be about: essential for making it successful. The com-
an inexorable trend, with the impact of keeping operations compact to stay nimble pany finds it difficult to move or change
Covid-19 accelerating the process. “Our while operating at scale to make the most quickly as per the needs of customers.”
digital transformation is also impacting of digital options.” The third point is data security, he went
the way we communicate with customers,” When drawing up digital strategies, on. The uptake of e-commerce also brings
Mr. Jousselin said. “In setting strategies she has observed, businesses find that little along associated e-commerce challenges,
for e-commerce platforms, we put effort to no upfront investment is needed to set with security threats being one of the most
into maintaining and enriching our services up a digital presence. The issue is more critical. There is a looming threat from hackers
based on our strength and core business about the mindset and the knowledge and fraudsters attacking the host server and
values. This new business model has clearly required to succeed in the digital environ- not just stealing confidential data but also
been our focus over the last few months. ment. For the first time ever, businesses infecting systems with viruses. Breaches of
In addition to investments in technology need to generate loyalty in an environment credit and debit card details have become
common, and such lapses directly affect cus-
E-COMMERCE SHARE OF TOTAL RETAIL SALES IN VIETNAM, 2015-2020 tomer trust. Phishing is yet another threat,
(% of e-commerce sales) where hackers pose as businesses and ask
for sensitive information from customers.
6%
5.5% The last point is competition. The internet
offers everyone an equal platform and hence
5.5%
an equal opportunity. “This makes the envi-
4.9% ronment extremely competitive, with possibly
5%
hundreds of other businesses offering the
same products or services as us and to the
4.5% 4.2%
same target audience,” Mr. Thong said.
“Even the most niche brands have to fight
4%
3.6% hard to carve out a place for themselves.
And every segment in the e-commerce space
3.5% is set to get increasingly congested and com-
3%
petitive over the years. A homegrown startup
2.8%
3% has to keep pace with a multinational giant
and vice-versa. And every enterprise is con-
tinuously experimenting to come up with
2.5%
2015 2016 2016 2018 2019 2020 an innovative e-commerce business solution
Source: VStatista, July 2021 to gain an edge.” %
SEPTEMBER 2021 | VIETNAM ECONOMIC TIMES | 15