<article><p>Amazon said its operations in Vietnam are defying a global downturn hitting Big Tech, thanks in part to an influx of Chinese businesses moving into the Southeast Asian nation.</p></article>

<p>Amazon said its operations in Vietnam are defying a global downturn hitting Big Tech, thanks in part to an influx of Chinese businesses moving into the Southeast Asian nation.</p>
<p>Gijae Seong, head of Amazon Global Selling in Vietnam, said the local division has grown more strongly this year than in 2021, even as the company last week reported a $2.5 billion third-quarter operating loss for its international segment.</p>
<p>While he declined to disclose country-specific revenue, Seong said the number of local exporters using Amazon in Vietnam spiked 80% in the 12 months to August. Those exporters&#8217; sales also rose at a faster clip in 2022 than 2021, the company said.</p>
<p>Southeast Asia is already the world&#8217;s fastest-growing e-commerce market, and Vietnam is set to lead that expansion by 2026, Seong added.</p>
<p>But he also acknowledged the &#8220;double challenge&#8221; of a rise in interest rates and decline in people shopping from home as they try &#8220;to go back to their normal lives&#8221; after COVID.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re struggling. I think everybody&#8217;s struggling this year,&#8221; Seong told reporters in Ho Chi Minh City.</p>
<p>When Nikkei Asia asked about the impact of companies relocating from China, Seong described two benefits for Amazon.</p>
<p>First, he said, merchants and service providers coming to the country raise standards and offer lessons to Vietnamese partners, drawing on a decade of experience in China&#8217;s larger online market. Second, Chinese e-commerce sellers ship from Vietnam, increasing export volume and therefore the incentive to invest in the country&#8217;s logistics, he said.</p>
<p>Much news has focused on factories moving from China across the border to Vietnam amid U.S.-China tensions and COVID disruptions. Amazon&#8217;s remarks highlight how the trend can have knock-on effects in other areas, in this case the online marketplace.</p>
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<p>Seong&#8217;s upbeat comments on Vietnam come as gloom in the global economy has weighed on a number of industries, including fashion and furniture &#8212; two of the top five product categories that companies in Vietnam&#8217;s export-driven economy sell via Amazon.</p>
<p>Looking to capitalize on one of the world&#8217;s fastest-growing economies, Amazon said it has focused on improving services for local merchants, offering discounts, Vietnamese-language customer service, and other support.</p>
<p>&#8220;We received a lot of complaints from our sellers that it&#8217;s so hard to create an Amazon account&#8221; in Vietnam around 2018-2019, when it was first entering the country, Seong said. &#8220;There were a lot of rumors&#8230; that Amazon includes a lot of difficulty.&#8221;</p>
<p>Hiring more Vietnamese staff to solve registration and other problems was one major improvement that helped increase the number of vendors on the online store, he added.</p>
<p>Merchants in Vietnam sold 10 million products on the platform in the 12 months to August, according to the Seattle-based company.</p>
<div id="AdAsia"><em>This article first appeared in <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Retail/Amazon-Vietnam-growth-buoyed-by-China-defies-global-tech-slowdown">Nikkei Asia</a>.</em></div>
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Local exporters using Amazon in Vietnam spiked 80% in the 12 months to August, says top executive.

Amazon Vietnam says growth is defying global slowdown

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Amazon Vietnam says growth is defying global slowdown

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