Vietnamese Internet Entrepreneurs
Posted by joe
Internet entrepreneurs in Vietnam are figuring out how to overcome challenges posed by the country’s infrastructure. Among Vietnam’s 88 million people, there is growing interest in the convenience of online shopping. There are now more than two dozen Vietnamese sites copying Groupon’s “deal-of-the-day” concept. These companies adapted the strategy used in more developed countries. So for example, few Vietnamese consumers have credit cards or PayPal style accounts. To over come this, at least one of the Groupon copycats NhomMua, relies on a team of more than 100 moped-driving couriers that deliver vouchers directly to consumers and then collect cash. Read more in this Bloomberg Businessweek article, “Vietnam’s Dot-Com Boom” (January 19, 2012).
Have you ever traveled abroad? In a developing country? How could some online products in the U.S. be adapted for foreign markets? Think about some of your favorite websites — which ones transfer easily to a less-developed country? Which require some adaptation?
Tags: Developing countries
This entry was posted on Friday, February 10th, 2012 at 7:29 am and is filed under International, Product, Retailing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
This article is a good example of how people can improvise in order to succeed in the business world, even if the market has not caught up with the technology curve in the country. Entrepreneurs in Vietnam are using the available technology to follow the wildly successful business plans of companies like Groupon, and this is allowing them to prosper as the country’s technology catches up. As more consumers are able to pay using credit cards and PayPal, the companies can adapt their strategies to move to a more technology-based sales system. I think that in developing markets, it is necessary to use the available resources in order to appeal to the largest number of consumers. This prevents companies from forming strategies and business plans that may be “ahead of the curve,” and may not succeed in the current environment.
February 20th, 2012 at 11:27 pmThis article was a surprise to me because I would have had no idea that people in Vietnam would have any interest in online shopping. It’s interesting to think that growing up in the United States you grown accustom to such remedies (online shopping and purchases). Though the country is apparently suffering from an online payment problem it is still impressive that their is growth in that area. Also towards the end of the article it talked about FaceBook being used their, it stills awes me that FaceBook has not just made a national impact but also a huge international impact.
February 22nd, 2012 at 11:15 amI traveled to Vietnam in December and was shocked to see how much technology companies were starting to use. For example, tourism companies in Vietnam use internet systems to book trips for clients, and these records can be accessed from any of their dozens of offices all over the country. As Americans, we tend to underestimate how rapidly developing countries are picking up on technology. However, I did notice several hurdles in Vietnam that could affect e-commerce. Like the article says, almost no one uses credit card. The majority of locals, except for the extremely wealthy ones, shop at flea markets where transactions are cash-only, so many locals have no need for credit or debit cards. This could be a deterrent for international companies who are interested in pursuing online business in Vietnam. Also, since Facebook is technically outlawed in Vietnam, companies do not use it as an advertising platform, which has benefitted numerous companies in America. To Sam’s point, this is a contributing factor as to why Facebook has not made the national impact in Vietnam that it has in America.
February 29th, 2012 at 2:58 pm