According to a survey by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, 44% of internet users in the country have never made an online purchase because of a lack confidence in companies.

 Consumers wary of buying online

The relative youth of the population in Vietnam helped to place it among the top 20 countries in terms of connectivity, with 33% of the population having access. Although this means a big potential for online shopping, the market has seen somewhat disappointing results, according to many analysts.

Many of those surveyed expressed worries about product quality. Nguyen Thanh Hung, deputy director of Vietnam E-commerce Association, said, "The most of these worries have to do with quality, brand name and prices. Remember that 56% of those internet users asked have shopped online, this is a good start for domestic companies. Now we have to think of ways to create and keep more customers."

Nguyen Van Thoan, a lecturer at the Foreign Trade University, said that most customers do not really trust online shops. Since news spreads fast on the internet that if anything is wrong with a product it could have an immediate effect on the reputation of the brand."

There are a number of online shopping sites operating in Vietnam, but the most popular are group-buying sites such as hotdeal and muachung. However, group-buying sites only act as a bridge between customers and companies. This method also makes it difficult to solve disputes between buyers and sellers.

Supermarkets are also trying to promote online shopping, but the effort has been facing some difficulties because customers normally opt for small and inexpensive products.

Pham Dinh Toan, chairman of Phu Thai Corporation, said that the market potential is huge in this area and enterprises should make sound investments to prepare for the future.