At the 2025 E-commerce Export Summit, held on July 23 in Hanoi, the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and Amazon Global Selling Vietnam announced a three-year strategic cooperation agreement, entitled “V-Brands Go Global with Amazon”. Running from 2025 to 2027, the program is designed to accelerate the success of Vietnamese businesses in global e-commerce markets.

Mr. Vu Ba Phu, Director General of Vietrade, said global trade is entering into a new era of development, where digital transformation and cross-border e-commerce are not just trends but have become essential platforms for businesses to directly reach global consumers. “In this context, proactively diversifying trade promotion activities in the digital environment is no longer an option but a necessity for enhancing the competitiveness, adaptability, and sustainable development of Vietnamese businesses in the international market,” he added.

Vietnamese brands in the international arena

Addressing the Summit, Mr. Larry Hu, Head of Amazon Global Selling Southeast Asia, noted that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for a large proportion of enterprises on Amazon and are considered a growth engine, with nearly 2 million such sellers worldwide representing 60 per cent of total sales. Over the past 25 years, these businesses have generated revenue of up to $2.5 trillion.

More than 60 per cent of products sold on Amazon come from third-party sellers, including thousands of Vietnamese businesses. These have achieved impressive growth, with the number of products sold by Vietnamese sellers on Amazon increasing by more than 300 per cent over the past five years. Each year they export and sell millions of products to Amazon customers around the world, demonstrating steady progress in the international market.

“This is a transformational period for Vietnam’s digital commerce,” said Mr. Hu. “Amazon Global Selling recognizes that e-commerce exports are becoming an important driving force in Vietnam’s international trade strategy and brand development.”

From a business perspective, Mr. Tran Lam Son, Founder of the Green Mekong brand and member of the Handicraft and Wood Processing Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA), said businesses have recently posted positive results when participating in the e-commerce space, especially on the Amazon platform. Vietnam’s wood processing and handicraft industry is greatly appreciated for its strong localization capacity, he continued, with many export products having a localization rate of over 80 per cent, which is an important advantage in the context of global competition.

Mr. Truong Van Cam, Vice President of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), told the Summit that textiles are one of Vietnam’s key export items, with nearly $44 billion worth being exported last year. The sector also employs the most workers among all economic sectors, at over 16,000 operating enterprises. However, 92.3 per cent of these are SMEs. “Therefore, this group of enterprises needs to take advantage of e-commerce to both meet the huge domestic consumption demand and participate in the global export supply chain,” he noted.

According to experts at the Summit, in the context of deep integration, cross-border trade has become a vital channel for exporting goods and expanding the consumption market for Vietnamese products. Experts also believe that the key advantage of cross-border e-commerce is its ability to help businesses broaden export markets and boost sales, bringing goods to international consumers in the fastest way possible. In addition, quickly understanding and responding to market needs through online chat, product reviews, and customer feedback will help businesses meet market requirements more effectively.

Furthermore, businesses have the opportunity to expand their markets, reduce dependence on specific markets in terms of size and seasonality, and build stronger brand recognition abroad. “Global e-commerce is not simply about opening an online store, but a game that requires strategic, step-by-step thinking to master the digital value chain,” said Mr. Bui Huy Hoang, Deputy Director of MoIT’s Center for E-commerce and Digital Technology (eComDX).

Businesses must try harder

In order for cross-border e-commerce to become a long-term growth lever, Mr. Hoang said Vietnamese enterprises need to be more proactive in thinking about directly approaching the international market, instead of merely relying on existing platforms. Many Vietnamese enterprises are still struggling, stopping at just placing their products on the market without a systematic strategy for building a database, operations, marketing, and cross-border after-sales services.

From the experience of eComDX in implementing business support programs in the past, Mr. Hoang said that many SMEs, when entering the international e-commerce space, encounter difficulties in optimizing international logistics operations and managing multi-market orders, and, especially, lack data on consumer behavior in each country, region, or specific market. The lack of in-depth measurement and analysis tools also makes them vulnerable to the competition.

Therefore, Mr. Hoang believes that in the context of today’s rapid technological development, Vietnamese enterprises need to be supported in building their internal capacity to self-coordinate, optimize, and measure the effectiveness of cross-border e-commerce activities, instead of merely “participating” without “mastering”.

From a business perspective, according to Mr. Cam, the challenges facing the textile and garment industry include fierce competition, limited access to capital for SMEs compared to large enterprises, and issues such as reciprocal tariffs in the US, trade wars, and geopolitical conflicts. Therefore, SMEs need to focus on leveraging their advantages, such as agility and the ability to quickly adopt technology. In addition, it is also necessary to combine traditional products with non-traditional techniques and materials to diversify their offerings, focus on designing proprietary products, and respond swiftly to market demand. Enterprises also need to shift from processing to full-cycle manufacturing, and from design to the production of their own branded products. “The Association will play a supporting role, helping enterprises apply new technologies and, especially, sell on e-commerce platforms,” he added. “Though this process requires investment, it will deliver long-term benefits.”

Despite its many advantages, according to Mr. Son, Vietnam’s wood processing and handicraft industry is still facing challenges in controlling logistics costs, which greatly impact production expenditure and competitiveness. Enterprises in the industry have, however, proactively linked together, shared resources, and cooperated to find optimal solutions to this cost issue.

Sharing his development orientation, Mr. Son said Green Mekong has gradually transitioned from a B2B model to B2C, leveraging e-commerce platforms to directly reach global consumers. With this direction, Green Mekong has built a brand story associated with the origin of raw materials and a philosophy of “from grass to consumers”. Amazon has become a strategic distribution channel, helping the business shorten its supply chain, expand its market, and establish a distinct presence in the international arena.

To succeed in e-commerce in general and on Amazon in particular, according to Mr. Hu, Vietnamese sellers need to create new, unique, high-quality products that meet international demand; understand customers and markets by using Amazon’s analytical tools to capture trends and guide product innovation; effectively manage global logistics networks; build global brands and tell compelling brand stories to international consumers; identify the right markets and ensure regulatory compliance; leverage AI to generate product catalogs, design engaging content, and strengthen brand identity; and maintain a spirit of continuous learning and innovation based on performance data.

In the time to come, Vietrade has said, it will continue expanding the Product Brand Development Program on reputable cross-border e-commerce platforms, in which Amazon plays a strategic role, to promote signature products aligned with the Vietnamese national brand. At the same time, it will develop modern trade promotion tools, integrate AI in promotion and market analysis, and optimize access to international consumers. It also aims to strengthen coordination with ministries, sectors, localities, and trade promotion organizations to build a digital trade promotion ecosystem, with enterprises at the center, the market as the target, and technology as the driving force for development.