The Ministry of Industry and Trade is promoting e-commerce to communes and wards to open up more outlets for local products, aiming for 60% of communes to have online sellers by 2030.
The goal of having 60% of communes with online merchants by 2030 requires localities not only to expand distribution channels but also to help people operate their own online stores and maintain long-term businesses, thereby narrowing the regional gap and transforming e-commerce into a sustainable growth driver from the grassroots level.
This information was presented at the 2026 National Conference on E-commerce in Communes, themed “Industry and Trade bring e-commerce to communes, a springboard for double-digit growth,” organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on November 11th in Hanoi.
Narrowing the development gap
Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Viet Son emphasized that bringing e-commerce to communes is a concrete implementation of the policy on developing the digital economy , innovating the growth model, and modernizing trade.
According to the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, the goal of achieving an average economic growth rate of 10% or more per year during the 2026-2030 period and bringing the digital economy to approximately 30% of GDP requires creating new driving forces. In particular, e-commerce has the potential to spread and impact production, distribution, and consumption.
The national e-commerce development master plan for the period 2026-2030 aims to achieve the following targets by 2030: 60% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will operate on e-commerce platforms; and 60% of communes and equivalent administrative units will have merchants selling goods or providing services online.
Localities outside of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are expected to contribute 50% of the value of online retail transactions to consumers nationwide.
According to the presentations at the conference, the effective implementation of e-commerce has been included in the National Criteria for New Rural Communes. Communes are also responsible for monitoring and measuring this activity within their areas.
There is still significant room for growth at the grassroots level. By 2025, Vietnam’s e-commerce market is projected to reach approximately US$31 billion, a 25.5% increase, accounting for about 11% of total retail sales of goods and consumer services.
However, the level of development is uneven. According to the Vietnam E-commerce Index 2026 of the Vietnam E-commerce Association, Ho Chi Minh City scored 91.1 points, Hanoi scored 87.5 points, while the next three localities only scored between 17.9 and 22.3 points.
Presenting the introductory remarks on the “E-commerce Community Map 2026,” Mr. Nguyen Van Minh, Editor-in-Chief of the Industry and Trade Newspaper, stated that the newspaper had reviewed the information portals of 3,321 communes, wards, and special zones, with data finalized on November 4th.
Of the 2,497 units with sufficient data, 587 communes had e-commerce activities organized by the commune itself; 178 communes reported results, but only 18 communes published the number of orders, revenue, or number of households selling goods. This information was self-published by the government and does not represent actual sales figures, but it shows that implementation at the grassroots level needs to be more substantive.
Some localities have set specific targets. An Giang aims for 100% of commune-level People’s Committees to have their own e-commerce plans and at least one officer in charge. Tuyen Quang and Ninh Binh aim for at least 60% of communes and wards to have merchants selling goods online.
However, most provinces and cities have not yet assigned specific tasks and targets to the commune level; support activities are still heavily focused on training and livestreaming in batches.
From sales support to self-operated
At the conference, the “E-commerce Commune/Ward” model, implemented by TikTok Shop in collaboration with the Department of E-commerce from January 2026, was assessed as an initiative with initial practical results.
Ms. Tran Thi Tan, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at TikTok Shop, stated that the focus of the project is to help local sellers create their own content, operate their shops, and sustain their businesses in the long term.
According to Ms. Tan, the model aims to address bottlenecks such as inconsistent training and practice, lack of on-site support, unstandardized product information, unstable supply, and difficulties in delivery.
According to TikTok Shop, the program has trained over 35,000 local sellers to date, tagged over 230,000 Vietnamese and OCOP products; and sellers’ revenue has grown by an average of 30.5%.
Data provided by TikTok Shop as of October 31st shows that in Binh Lu commune, Lai Chau province, there are 15 trained sellers and affiliate marketers, of whom 8 are capable of independent business; generating 9,324 orders. In Phuong Duc commune, Hanoi, 80 people have been trained, 44 are independent business owners, and 73,070 orders have been generated. In Cho Lach commune, Vinh Long province, the corresponding figures are 66 people, 50 people, and 81,521 orders.
According to Ms. Tan, practical experience ranging from highland agricultural products to seedlings, ornamental plants, and traditional craft products shows that the model can be adapted to the advantages of each locality. TikTok Shop aims to coordinate efforts so that by 2027, each province and city will have at least one commune or ward participating in the model.
We need a real measure of quality.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Huyen, Deputy Director of the E-commerce Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), assessed that the e-commerce model at the commune and ward level has achieved positive initial results, contributing to equipping people with the skills to directly conduct online business.
To achieve the goals by 2030, Ms. Huyen suggested that localities proactively select areas, identify advantageous product groups, survey the needs of businesses, and arrange on-site support points. The Department of Industry and Trade needs to connect resources and monitor results; platforms and service units should provide support in skills, tools, delivery, and market access.
The delegates also pointed out long-term issues that need to be addressed, ranging from the operational capacity of sellers, product standardization, and supply chain stability to the initial delivery costs in mountainous areas.
Mr. Nguyen Van Minh proposed monitoring four groups of indicators: Number of participating entities; number of active stalls and trained sellers; number of successful orders, revenue, and market share; and sustainability, costs, and transaction security. Progress towards the 60% target should be compared with the list of those actually doing business.
Deputy Minister Nguyen Viet Son emphasized that the ultimate measure of success at the Conference lies in each commune: how many more people are able to sell their own goods, how many products have stable outlets, and how much people’s income increases. When e-commerce truly reaches the communes, each commune will have an additional impetus for the whole country to realize the double-digit growth target.
(Vietnam+)
Original article
https://www.vietnamplus.vn/thuong-mai-dien-tu-ve-xa-be-phong-moi-cho-tang-truong-tu-co-so-post1147661.vnp
Tag:digital economye-commerceMinistry of Industry and TradeTikTok ShopDigital transformation of rural areas
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