Bach viet college faculty of foreign languages internship report e-commerce necessity and development trend

E-commerce plays an increasingly important role in the operation of the business. 2012 is forecasted to witness further development of different types of E-Commerce in Vietnam.

According to economic experts, in 2011, Vietnam witnessed strong development of E-Commerce. Many large companies in E-Commerce field in the world such as Alibaba, Rakuten... have invested capital in Vietnam. “This trend may be more pronounced in 2012. The fields of E-Commerce in Vietnam will attract great attention of the leading E-Commerce companies in the world as well as the foreign-invested enterprise want to deploy the E-Commerce activities in business in Vietnam.”, VECOM Secretary-General Nguyen Thanh Hung considered. The recent survey results of MOIT with respect to 200 firms showed nearly 100% of the enterprises applied E-Commerce in different levels and scales.

According to IDC, Vietnam's IT sector will grow strongly in 2012. IDC forecasts IT spending in Vietnam will reach 19.2% in growth rate. The total IT market in Vietnam is expected to reach 3.25 billion US dollars in 2012. Smartphone accounted for 9% of mobile market in Vietnam in the second quarter 2011, corresponding to more than 400,000 units. With the appearance of the cheaper smartphones, IDC predicts this number will increase sharply in this year; in the end of 2012, Vietnam's smartphone market is forecasted to reach 2.7 million units. At the same time, there will be about 26 million Internet users in Vietnam, accounting for about 30% of the total population. The development of technology and online activities will open up a range of opportunities. Electronic payment will have high growth. Although the growth of the wired Internet is expected to slow down, the wireless Internet can grow by around 50% from last year. Competition among service providers will make 3G services more accessible in both urban and rural areas because prices will drop. Along with the growth in the number of Internet users, social network is also expected to increase.

With such conditions, E-Commerce promises to have significant changes in the near future.

Development trends of E-Commerce

The strong development of the Internet will motivate to promote business on global scale. 2011 was one of the most successful years to date for E-Commerce. According to recent research from comScore, in third quarter alone, U.S. spending reached 36.3 billion US dollars, up 13 percent from a year ago. Additionally, channels, such as M-Commerce, have had unprecedented success. Below information will show the development trends of electronic commerce in 2012:

Social Commerce

As social media platforms like Facebook continue to take off, the businesses will become more aware of consumer digital activities. For example, when a customer ‘likes’ a page on Facebook, the businesses can then identify her or him as a potentially new customer who may not have interacted with the brand outside of the social space. And with more than 800 million active users on Facebook, this presents a clear opportunity that many companies will want to capitalize on as soon as possible.

Taking advantage of social commerce strategies also helps the businesses become more targeted in the delivery of special offers. Facebook and other social media platforms will become the first step on the E-Commerce ladder for the businesses that don’t want to build a whole website but want to start selling online quickly.

Flash Sales

In 2012, more businesses will launch limited-time offers as a way to boost sales and incentivize consumers. With flash sales, customers who interact with the brand online or via social media platforms such as Facebook will get priority access to special deals.

According to Zmags’ 2012 “Meet the Connected Consumer” report, 87 percent of consumers prefer to shop online, which means the businesses can expect to see an immediate response through email campaigns, online advertising techniques or social media campaigns.

Not only will this strategy serve as a new way for consumers to engage and purchase from their favorite brands, but it’s also a way for businesses to reward loyal customers and keep them coming back. If consumers believe they are more likely to receive deals by participating in such promotions, they will continue to interact with the brands online through flash sales. According to Nielsen’s 2011 Global Online Shopping and Saving Strategies Survey, 73 percent of North American online consumers look for a deal when shopping online and 61 percent of global online shoppers were found to value a deal over low price.

Discount Codes

Over the past year, there has been a huge surge in the number of discount codes accessed through mobile coupons and group buying strategies. The businesses have found the new ways to reach consumers through companies like GroupOn, with more than 50 million subscribers, which send deals and discount codes straight to subscribers’ email inboxes. The popularity of discount codes for consumers will continue to rise in 2012.

Businesses are also increasingly using QR codes as an E-Commerce strategy. According to a recent info graphic on www.visual.ly, QR code increased a whopping 4549 percent between first quarter 2010 and first quarter 2011. But, to prove their worth, the businesses will need to become more sophisticated and offer real value to entice late technology adopters. Educating consumers about QR codes and how to use them may be also the bigger challenge.

Mobile Optimization

M-Commerce is set to hit the mainstream next year and the businesses are working to optimize their websites to create mobile versions. This includes developing payment pages or specific smartphone and tablet apps that have payment pages already embedded within them. Until now, apps have re-routed consumers to a website to complete purchases, but this is set to become integrated as technology develops to support the payment process.

International Buying

E-Commerce offers consumers more choice and businesses more opportunities to widen the customer network beyond traditional boundaries. This will certainly be a growing trend in 2012 and beyond. All size businesses are benefitting from this wider customer base, especially smaller businesses that may have traditionally only sold to consumers in their geographic region.

The businesses must take caution, however, when offering additional payment methods, to be aware of further compliance requirements or necessary security measures to avoid risk of fraudulent transactions.

Overall, E-Commerce and associated channels are developing rapidly. In the coming years, we can expect to see a number of different developments that will completely transform the way consumers purchase and interact with brands. Technology, coupled with consumer appetite, provides a perfect catalyst for these new trends to enter the mainstream.

5. 
   SHORTCOMINGS OF E-COMMERCE AND THEIR CAUSES
   

Its causes are many, but mainly due to the infrastructure for E-Commerce and the awareness of participants are low; standards for e-commerce are still inadequate. Currently, the phishing E-Commerce websites have appeared. This causes loss of customer confidence in electronic transactions. There are also many businesses that build the prestige through the quality of merchandise, caring for the customer by consulting online and promotions. However, there still not has yet a real solution to stimulate consumption.

6. 
   STUDY RESULTS
   

E-Commerce and its applications will continue to bring positive changes to modern life. This report is the result of a careful research process on E-Commerce. It has provided us with some concepts and basic theories. At the same time, it also shows some of the nature, characteristics and importance of E-Commerce. In the research process, we also see the infrastructure needed for development of E-Commerce as well as the things that the company needs to pay attention when joining in E-Commerce market.

The research at Hau Phong Co., Ltd has shown out the reality of applying E-Commercial as well as the practical effect that it brings to the business. Thereby, we can know the advantages, disadvantages and assessments of the business in the process of applying, as well as the opportunities that E-Commerce brings to the business.

Practically

Through the details analysis of the customer service features on E-Commerce website of Hau Phong Co., Ltd; the businesses can learn a lesson in building an E-Commerce website. The report also indicates the development trend of E-Commerce, which helps business define suitable strategies for the actual situation. Besides that, the report also shows out the weakness and shortcomings in control strategies of the State and the business.

7. 
   PETITIONS AND RECOMMENDED SOLUTIONS
   

In the report of the Ministry of Planning and Investment in May 2012, the country has 468,300 businesses are operating, more than half of which has electronic information site to promote their products. However, the current supply is not sufficient to meet the needs of the job market. Currently, labor resources are young and abundant; but they have not been trained methodically to have knowledge and skills of E-Commerce operations. The State should have more open policies to support the education branch solve problems in human resources, and also focus to improve organizations on E-Commerce management, including the establishment of specialized inspection committees, assignment officials to strengthen the management capacity at local, etc.

Although the IT infrastructure in Vietnam has increased dramatically, that is only the upside; in fact, the IT equipment is still backward, the software technologies are updated slowly; they cannot afford to meet the new technologies. The State need invests to switch to use the new equipment that it matches the demands of modern technology.

For many years, the government has tried to build legal systems for E-Commerce; although there are much improved, it is still not complete yet. Law organizational methods and law enforcement is still limited. Many sanctions for violations in the fields of E-Commerce are not enough power to deter offenders. In the future, I hope that the State will soon complete the legal system to ensure the rights of the parties in E-Commerce.

To the company

Most of the businesses equipped themselves with an IT system to serve their business purposes. However, these equipment and software are outdated. It is no longer able to meet the requirements of the new technology. This affects the overall performance of the system. I suggest that the businesses should replace the old computer system with a new system that has higher performance. Furthermore, the businesses should update the newer software.

In the context of the supply of manpower in the fields of E-Commerce is limited, one of the current directions that I want to suggest is that the business should arrange staffs who hold concurrently, recruit personnel who has experience in the fields of E-Commerce or appoint staff to training. These directions will contribute to solve current manpower problems. In the long term, however, it is not the optimal approach.

For E-Commerce, website is the face of the company. Consumers come to the company via the website. They do not need to know that company large or small. They only pay special attention to the site and its contents. Therefore, the company should build an impressive website for the customers. The site must be harmonious in color and layout, new and precise in content, convenient in finding and purchasing, and safe in payment.

In E-Commerce, all transactions are related to World Wide Web. Therefore, it is likely to be attacked from outside. The problem that many people interested in when joining in E-Commerce is security. What I want to mention here is the personal information security of the parties that involved in transactions. Many people feel unsafe when they pay online. The weaknesses of the security features are the chances of hackers. This is the reason that consumers avoid E-Commerce transactions. The businesses should choose a safe server and host system, strong antivirus software and a multilevel firewall system; as the same way, they should build features to encrypt the information transaction.

To the college

E-commerce is a new trend of the modern economy. Due to the duration of the course on E-Commerce is too short, so most of the students are unfamiliar with this concept. In the course of research on E-Commerce, lack of knowledge will cause difficulties for students. If possible, the college should increase the amount of specialized courses on E-Commerce research.

During my internship, I realized that there are two issues that I think the college should pay attention. First, it is the inconsistency in the guidance. There is too much notice to guide students. But they do not agree with each other and also do not clear. These cause difficulties for students to determine how the report format. Second, that is the writing reports skill. During 3 years of study, there is not any subject or any extracurricular activity to guide students how to write a report that suits standards. When writing reports, we are really surprise and did not know how. All students do not understand what the APA standard is? How to use it? Etc. From these difficulties, I suggest the college should have a sample of detailed, consistent and clear guidance. At the same time, the college should supplement the subjects that it often writes the essays or reports; or arrange to guide students. These help students know how to present a report correctly.

To the students

In the learning process, students should consolidate your knowledge of computing. This is the necessary knowledge for each student after graduation. This knowledge helps students a lot in the future.

Today, IT is an indispensable part of modern life. In addition, IT in general and E-Commerce in particular always change; be sure that your knowledge is not obsolete by you should always update news and learn about those changes.

CONCLUSION

E-Commerce activities are no longer strange field for many countries because of its preeminence. Applying E-Commerce to business activity is the unavoidable trend of the digital age. Vietnam is not also exception. On the website, information is disseminated very quickly; so if the customers highly appreciate the company’s services, it is a valuable thing.

Through the research process, we can realize more clearly about the monumentally important role of the customer services in applying E-Commerce. Although newly in deployment, www.thietbidiengiare.com has got significant results. It was partly the effectiveness of the customer services. Website has provided customers with the most essential services such as search function, shopping cart, customer care, etc.

However, due to the E-Commerce development in Vietnam has not really completed; the infrastructure and the human resources are part weak, part missing, so Hau Phong Co., Ltd is not able to provide yet customers with other services. Therefore, developing and improving the performance of customer service on the website is a necessity for companies. In the near future, the applications of E-Commerce will bring exploits to the company. From that target, Hau Phong Co., Ltd will focus on investment in material facilities, equipment, human resources and business strategies to build the best customer service; simultaneously, it can bring the profits and enhance the prestige of the brand name for the company on the market. Hau Phong Co., Ltd undertook that they will bring the products and services with the best quality to the customers.

REFERENCE

http://www.comscore.com/

http://visual.ly/

http://www.vecom.vn/

http://www.idc.com.vn/

http://www.asean.idc.asia/

http://www.gapit.com.vn/flash.php#/services

http://www.alexa.com/

http://www.vinasa.org.vn/vi-vn/trang-chu.aspx

http://www.ictnews.vn/Home/

http://mic.gov.vn/Trang/default3.aspx

http://www.thongkeinternet.vn/jsp/tintuc/tintuc.jsp

http://www.gso.gov.vn/default.aspx?tabid=217

http://www.vecita.gov.vn/

http://www.akamai.com/

http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/meetujain-367996-electronic-commerce-ecom-science-technology-ppt-powerpoint/

INDEX

According to Vietnam E-Commerce Report 2011:

Index 2: The information security measures by size of the enterprise

Index 3: The situation applying Internet Banking over the years