Dealtoday.vn bets on O2O to connect SMEs to larger market

Having launched its O2O e-commerce model in January 2016, Dealtoday.vn aims to provide E-promotion and E-loyalty solutions for SMEs in Vietnam. This model functions by providing SMEs products and services on Dealtoday's platform, which includes a website (with a mobile version) and a mobile app. SMEs are actively involved in promotions, such as sales, discounts, points-strategised flexibly with time, location, and target customers taken into consideration.

Dealtoday's platform includes a website (with a handy mobile version) and a mobile app

Customers with demand for products and services ranging from travelling, restaurants, entertainment, education, beauty, and healthcare to transportation, who are used to shopping at malls can now easily find sales offered by thousands of businesses on Dealtoday's network.

All they need is internet connection to access the website and the mobile app at any time. Having picked their favourite products or services from trustworthy brands, customers can make online purchases on Dealtoday.vn and get their E-voucher/E-coupon codes sent to their email address, phone or receive it on the mobile app to then use at offline locations. It is at the offline locations that clerks verify the codes from Dealtoday's website for partner brands. Every transaction is made instantly on the Internet, limitless of time and location.

Dealtoday.vn is an O2O e-commerce model with huge advantages in cost compared to other e-commerce models, such as business-to-customer (B2C) and business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C), since it skips the middleman and cuts down on logistics, inventory, and merchandising expenses and does not have direct rivalry with traditional retail channels. Furthermore, expanding its market scope will not require large investment into infrastructure, since Dealtoday.vn offers its service via online transactions, such as E-vouchers, E-coupons and E-loyalty points. Connecting with partners and customers is conducted entirely online, thus products and services' information and content are created once and used for a while, which saves the cost of content production. In comparison with the B2C and B2B2C models, which focus on electronics, household appliances or fashion products, Dealtoday's focus on services is much simpler and thus saves a lot on content production, including associated articles, designs, and photos.

Dealtoday.vn has the edge over competition in terms of cost and comfort

The Vietnamese e-commerce market is estimated to have grown by over $1 billion in 2015, over 25 per cent on-year and is forecasted a potential gain of $5-7 billion by Techinasia in 2016. With a population of 91 million people, 130 million mobile subscribers and over 43 million internet users, Vietnam shows potential as a growing e-commerce market, yet without an iconic brand dominating consumers’ minds.

Since 2015, e-commerce in Vietnam has been heavily fluctuating: the closing down and backing out of the market of some businesses, such as foodpanda, beyeu.vn, deca.vn, giare.vn, and considerable M&A activities, such as Alibaba's acquisition of Lazada, Thai Central Group's acquisition of Zalora, have all contributed to revolutionary/radical changes. What is more, Vietnam's leading game enterprise VNG's $17 billion investment into tiki.vn, or real estate tycoon Vingroup's launch of e-commerce with adayroi.com have all expanded the market by a significant margin. The M&A trend is indeed set to heat up the e-commerce market with B2C and B2B2C models in Vietnam.

On the other hand, upon scrutiny of the O2O market segment, apart from the two e-commerce websites hotdeal.vn and muachung.vn that operate with groupon/coupon models which have now joined the B2C model with fashion, household appliances, and electronic products, Vietnam has yet to bear large names.

With over 500,000 businesses on board, start-ups are encouraged by the Vietnamese government with consulting and support. Thus, connecting customers with SMEs is becoming an incredibly potent and essential business model. Upon success, Dealtoday.vn will make leaps and bounds to shift the focus of e-commerce towards SMEs, aiding these enterprises to reach out to customers and enlarge the market size. This is what SMEs lack the capital to do, and even if carried out, it does not guarantee efficient results due to inferior scale. In the race for shaping Vietnam's e-commerce environment, where giants struggle over financial strength to pursue B2C and B2B2C models, whether Dealtoday.vn can make a difference is for the near future.