Retail University campaign to help retailers expand online channels

Retail University will help SME retailers go online

The training programme of Retail Unversity 2021 will focus on five subjects, including guiding retailers to build an e-commerce website and professional online brand, introducing Google My Business and guiding retailers to set up their Google My Business presence on the Sapo platform. Besides, participants will also be helped to improve business performance through the omni-channel, as well as learn about the delivery process. The last component will include training courses about online payment solutions for traders.

According to Nguyen Thanh Hung, chairman of VECOM, in 2020, the Vietnamese e-commerce market reported an increase of 15 per cent, reaching a scale of $13.2 billion. The figure is forecast to continue to increase by 2025.

“There is great potential for retailers in switching from traditional trading and expanding their business to online platforms,” Hung said.

In order to increase the effectiveness of online sales, retailers also need to expand payment methods to make business more convenient, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dang Tuyet Dung, Visa's country manager for Vietnam and Laos said, “Under the impact of the pandemic, medium- and small-sized retailers need to apply digital tools and establish omni-channel, while simultaneously diversifying payment methods."

“Non-cash payments are becoming more and more popular," she continued. "68 per cent of the respondents at a Visa survey in 2020 said that they carry around less cash thanks to using a credit card. Besides, the demand for online shopping also increased, expanding online trading while increasing online payments, which is shaping up to be an essential trend,” Dung said.

To date, Visa implemented numerous programmes to help small- and medium-sized enterprises step on the road to digitalisation. Notably, it launched Where You Shop Matters, an initiative that encourages consumers to support local businesses, while helping SMEs go digital following the onset of COVID-19.

As part of Where You Shop Matters, Visa is working with Shopee to feature more than 2,000 local micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises in its marketplace and create campaigns offering discounts to Visa cardholders when they shop at these local merchants.

The Vietnam Internet Statistics 2020 report by Vnetwork showed that Vietnam has approximately 68 million people using social networks, standing in 6^th place among the top 30 most promising countries in the global retail sector.