Market overview
Vietnam’s e-commerce market is large, growing fast and increasingly concentrated in two platforms. Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and VECOM data put B2C e-commerce revenue at about US$31 billion in 2025, nearly 10% of retail sales of goods and consumer services. On the narrower measure of gross merchandise value (GMV) across the four tracked marketplaces (Shopee, TikTok Shop, Lazada and Tiki), Metric counted VND 429.7 trillion, about US$16.4 billion, in 2025, up roughly 35% year on year on 3.9 billion products sold. Growth continued into 2026: Metric reports first-half 2026 GMV of VND 291.6 trillion, up 44.1%. This article explains who holds that market, how sellers make money in it, and what the main rules and costs are. For the headline statistics see the e-commerce statistics page and the e-commerce market report.
Two ways to measure the market
Sources disagree because they measure different things. B2C revenue covers all online retail sales, including brand websites and social selling. Marketplace GMV counts only sales through the four tracked platforms. Even for the same four platforms the figures differ: YouNet’s ECI put first-half 2026 GMV at VND 264.8 trillion, up 19%, well below Metric’s count and growth rate. When you cite a number, name the source and the period, and avoid mixing figures from different methodologies in one calculation.
The platform landscape: a duopoly
Marketplace share shifted sharply in 2025. TikTok Shop reached about 41% of four-platform GMV, up from about 29% in 2024, and Shopee eased to about 56%. Together they hold roughly 97%. Lazada and Tiki together fell to about 3% (Metric does not report them separately), and both now serve mainly authorised-brand and curated-store sellers.
Seller numbers tell the same story. Shopee had about 210,000 active sellers in the first half of 2025, down 32% on the year, while TikTok Shop had about 267,000, up 96%. The total across the four platforms was around 601,800 active sellers, down 7.4%. Fewer sellers are moving more volume, which points to consolidation and to tougher conditions for small sellers.
What this means for a foreign brand: a launch plan that treats Shopee as the default and Lazada as the second channel is out of date. TikTok Shop now has Shopee-scale volume, but with a content-led model where video and livestream drive discovery. The channel selector and the Shopee vs Lazada vs TikTok Shop comparison help choose between them.
What it costs to sell
Marketplace fees are the main determinant of margin and they rose in 2026. On Shopee, a 6% transaction fee applies on top of a category commission that ranges from about 2% (phones and laptops) to 17% (beauty), according to the schedules effective 23 May 2026. TikTok Shop also charges a 6% transaction fee, with Mall commissions reaching 19.8% in beauty, plus creator affiliate commission that sellers set, often 10–30%. All of these sit before advertising, vouchers and shipping subsidies, which are optional but often decisive for ranking. The Shopee seller fee guide and the TikTok Shop guide give the full tables and worked examples.
Buyers and payments
Vietnam had about 85.6 million internet users at the end of 2025, roughly 84% of the population. On payments, the State Bank of Vietnam reports a cashless payment rate in e-commerce of 66.85% at the end of 2024, so roughly a third of e-commerce is still settled on delivery in cash. Cash on delivery (COD) adds failed-delivery and returns cost for sellers and delays remittance of sales proceeds, which matters for working capital. E-wallets (MoMo, ZaloPay, ShopeePay, ViettelPay) and QR bank transfers carry most of the digital share. See the digital payments article for the rails.
Logistics
Parcel volume is rising quickly. MBS counted about 3.5 billion parcels in the first ten months of 2025, up 32%, and forecasts about 5.1 billion for 2026. Fulfilment runs through platform logistics (SPX Express, Lazada Logistics, TikiNOW) and third-party couriers (GHN, GHTK, J&T Express, Ninja Van). Big-city delivery is typically same-day or next-day; provincial areas take longer. Warehousing is concentrated around Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. For cost and coverage detail see the last-mile logistics article.
Tax and regulation
Rules that affect sellers and importers changed substantially in 2025 and 2026. The regulation tracker lists each one with dates:
- E-commerce Law. The Law on E-Commerce (Law 122/2025/QH15) and Decree 248/2026/NĐ-CP took effect on 1 July 2026 and replace Decree 52/2013. Foreign platforms must register once they pass 100,000 Vietnamese orders a year, and platforms must verify sellers’ identity electronically.
- Per-order tax withholding. Platforms must withhold VAT and personal income tax per order for individual sellers (1% VAT plus 0.5% PIT on goods, so 1.5% in total on the published schedule), under current rules from 1 July 2026.
- VAT. The standard VAT rate is temporarily cut from 10% to 8% until 31 December 2026, and goes back to 10% afterwards unless extended.
- Low-value imports. Since 18 February 2025 every express parcel pays import VAT. Parcels worth VND 1,000,000 (about US$40) or less remain exempt from import duty. A draft decree issued for consultation in September 2026 would cut that duty exemption to about VND 100,000. It is not yet in force.
- Licensing. New licensing rules for foreign-invested companies that import, distribute or retail apply from 18 October 2026.
Check the Vietnam regulation tracker before relying on any date: several entries are still moving.
Outlook
The government’s stated target is for e-commerce to reach 15–20% of retail sales, around US$50 billion, by 2030. That is a target, not a forecast. On current trends the platform share question is more important for sellers than the total: TikTok Shop’s growth, falling seller counts and rising fees suggest margins will keep tightening for sellers without strong brand or content, while brands with authorised distribution and good unit economics gain.
What foreign brands should do
- Model landed cost and net payout per channel before choosing one, using the landed-cost calculator.
- Plan for both Shopee and TikTok Shop; treat Lazada as a brand-store channel.
- Budget for COD handling and returns even if you expect most orders to be prepaid.
- Track tax and licensing dates in the regulation tracker.
Limits of the data
Figures come from different sources with different methods and periods (full-year 2025, first-half 2026, first-half 2025 for seller counts). Numbers for seller counts and parcel volume come from reports citing industry bodies and brokers rather than platform disclosures. Treat fee schedules as snapshots: platforms revise them often.
Sources
- Metric (metric.vn): full-year 2025 and first-half 2026 e-commerce reports, via Vietnam News and VietNamNet coverage
- YouNet ECI: first-half 2026 e-commerce data
- Ministry of Industry and Trade and VECOM: B2C e-commerce revenue 2025
- VinVentures and Vietnam Investment Review: active seller counts, first half of 2025
- State Bank of Vietnam: cashless share of e-commerce, end-2025
- MBS Securities: parcel volumes
- DataReportal Digital 2026: internet users
- Shopee, TikTok Shop and Lazada seller center fee schedules (2026)
- Vietnam regulation tracker