Livestream sales boom

Livestreaming continues to revolutionize the online shopping experience in Vietnam as e-commerce platforms have witnessed significant growth in recent times. Many livestream channels have only been created for a few days and livestream every night, attracting up to 40,000 viewers, which can reach nearly tens of millions of views per month, contributing to boosting revenue growth.

Livestreaming can boost up to 20% of total e-commerce sales. Photo: P. Thao

The clearest evidence was during the week of Online Friday 2024, on the TikTok Shop platform alone, more than 900 livestream sales sessions were recorded on TikTok Shop. The total number of views of content with the hashtags #OnlineFriday and #TuHaoHangViet was 1.8 billion.

In particular, Quang Linh Vlog's livestream on the evening of November 28 achieved impressive success with more than 24 million views and 31,179 orders sold via the TikTok Shop platform. Many products quickly "sold out" after a short time of opening for sale, such as 498 combos of 2 bags of ST25 Rice (5kg/bag) from Vua Gao sold out in just 10 minutes, or the combo of 30 pairs of chopsticks and bamboo cutting boards from Tre Phuong Bac reached a total of 547 orders in just 15 minutes...

As one of the brands with large output on the e-commerce platform, in 2024, the Deli e-commerce channel is expected to grow 85% compared to 2023. Ms. Nguyen Giang Huong Ly - Communications Director of Deli Vietnam Development Company Limited - said: The number of orders per day on the platforms reaches 10,000 orders/day. During peak times such as Super Sale days, OnlineFriday can reach 35,000 orders/day.

Thanks to the seamless space between shopping and entertainment, users can save a significant amount of time and effort, plus a series of attractive promotions, making shopping via livestream considered a prominent trend on e-commerce platforms in the coming years.

Many analyses show that direct shopping via livestream has the potential to boost up to 20% of total e-commerce sales by early 2026; in which, the 3 most popular livestream sales platforms in Vietnam are Facebook, Shopee and TikTok. On average, there are 2.5 million livestream sales sessions per month, with the participation of more than 50,000 sellers. Vietnamese people spend 13 hours/week watching livestream sales, spending the 11th most money on online shopping in the world.

What opportunities for Vietnamese goods?

With the strong development of e-commerce systems, logistics, imported goods, etc., domestic retail businesses are facing many challenges. So what should Vietnamese goods do to compete with imported goods on e-commerce platforms?

Sharing at many seminars, experts commented that there is no common formula for businesses in China, Korea or any other country when selling to the world. The issue that needs to be ensured is controlling the quality of orders. This is the strength and opportunity for Vietnamese goods.

Accordingly, instead of spreading out, Vietnamese goods need to focus on specific segments, standardize quality and focus on strong product groups, for example, agricultural products are OCOP products. The fact that OCOP classifies products according to 3-star, 4-star, 5-star standards clearly helps Vietnamese brands have a focus, creating momentum to compete on e-commerce platforms and international markets.

From the implementation, Mr. Nguyen Lam Thanh - TikTok representative in Vietnam, Vice President of Vietnam Digital Communications Association - said: “ Since 2023, TikTok has implemented the OCOP fair program. In this program, we organize training courses in the right way, guiding and showing how to do things. Every Saturday, we organize a livestream session to introduce specialty agricultural products of provinces and cities to users across the country. Each livestream session can reach 5 million people, I think the program is quite successful .

In June 2024, TikTok decided to expand the program to phase 2 with the name of the program "Proud of Vietnamese Products". In which, the unit has coordinated with associations such as: Professional Associations, social organizations such as Women's Association, Business Association... with the ultimate goal that businesses producing Vietnamese products and services will enjoy the platform's incentives, including training, after-sales support, and even sales programs on the TikTok Shop platform...

Emphasizing that using the OCOP brand is an important step to elevate Vietnamese goods, sharing at the workshop "Supporting Vietnamese goods on e-commerce platforms", held at the end of November 2024, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Luan - Director of Meet More Company - expressed his opinion that taking the OCOP brand as the center is the right approach. Instead of spreading out, Vietnamese goods need to focus on each specific segment, standardize quality and focus on strong product groups. This is the key to success, especially on e-commerce platforms.

In addition, to increase appeal, many units take advantage of the power of KOLs and KOCs - influencers. In fact, KOLs and KOCs have become popular since around 2019 - 2020, when the review trend spread across social networking platforms. In the context of online shopping becoming increasingly popular but also fraught with risks of counterfeit and poor quality goods, the appearance of KOLs and KOCs on livestream has brought a "new breeze", building trust with consumers; creating a strong shift in the shopping habits of Vietnamese consumers.

Unlike carefully edited product images on websites or sales apps, livestream sessions provide a realistic experience, helping viewers clearly feel the product, from material, design to color, so many people have bought it.

According to research by NielsenIQ Vietnam, KOLs and KOCs have a great influence on the purchasing decisions and shopping journeys of consumers in Vietnam. About 50% of consumers said that their purchasing decisions were influenced by KOLs and KOCs.

Experts say that social media and e-commerce are shaping a new group of workers - the influencers. They not only bring quality products but also create real value for society. This is an inevitable trend and needs to be recognized.