Necessary Conditions for Successfully Building and Developing a Vietnam

With a specific customer base, vietnamchinalink has helped Vietnamese businesses in the matter of using foreign languages.

Regarding business knowledge: in addition to the B2B e-commerce trading floor, vietnamchinalink also provides members with knowledge about international economic transactions: payment, insurance, delivery of goods, etc. The knowledge base has been built since the website was first established and updated with other news to help businesses update the latest knowledge about international trade. In addition, there is an "advisory board" of economic experts who will answer some questions of member businesses when participating in transactions.

ii. Disadvantages:

Besides the above advantages, vietnamchinalink also has disadvantages:

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Database of goods : The goods offered for sale and purchase are not illustrated in detail, information about the products as well as the goods are not specified in the catalog. When a business participates in searching for partners online, it also means that they may encounter certain risks. However, no business wants to encounter one of those risks, and they always want to find ways to avoid them. When they find an item, they cannot just look at the illustration and decide whether to cooperate or not? They need to be provided with the most basic information about the goods and the company to be able to evaluate the reliability of that company as well as the quality of the item.

List of results when we search for an item

For the same product, sometimes we just need to look for that product but with a certain characteristic quality, at a reasonable price, not looking for an item with good quality but a price higher than we can accept, or an item with features that do not meet our requirements.

In terms of language: Although supported in three languages, there are still some shortcomings in the use of language in finding partners. The news page and knowledge supporting transactions are displayed in all three languages, but the B2B trading floor only supports English. This will also cause difficulties for Vietnamese export enterprises in offering products and import enterprises in finding partners.

Level of information update: goods on the floor are not updated regularly, the reason may be due to the small number of members so the items put up for trading are not many.

This B2B e-commerce portal is still in its infancy and has not yet developed to its full potential. Vietnamchinalink only provides services as a small trading floor and does not have other supporting services such as forums, auctions, etc.

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2.2.3. Analysis of B2B e-commerce portal www.vietnamchina.gov.vn

2.2.3.1. Development situation

In 2005, the Ministry of Commerce of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the People's Democratic Republic of China cooperated to build the Vietnam - China e-commerce portal. Launched 2 years later than the vietnamchinalink portal, the vietnamchina portal of the former Ministry of Commerce (now the Ministry of Industry and Trade) has made changes to suit the economic development of the country.

Basically built on the Alibaba model, but on a smaller scale. The number of members participating in transactions on the floor is also small, the products offered on the floor are not described in detail. The interface of the website is built simply like an information page, there is no shopping cart for members to buy. The goods are not arranged according to specific categories but are arranged in chronological order. The most basic difference is that on vietnamchina, you do not allow registration as a member.

In addition to the tools for trading through the B2B floor, vietnamchina also provides additional news on economic and trade between the two countries as well as related legal policies. Information on economics and investment between the two countries is updated and the number of news is even more outstanding than the news on goods on the trading floor. The purpose of vietnamchina is mainly to

The main purpose is to act as a bridge for businesses of the two countries to better understand the current economic situation of each country in order to have appropriate policies.

2.2.3.2. Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of vietnamchina

i. Advantages

As a later portal, when e-commerce in Vietnam was quite developed, with support from the Ministry of Commerce of both countries, the VietnamChina portal created its own certain advantages.

Economic news database : economic information of the two countries as well as economic and trade relations between the two countries are regularly updated with the support of the two countries' Ministries of Commerce. In addition, due to the support of the authorities, the economic news and information provided are more reliable than other portals.

Language : With only two languages, Vietnamese and Chinese, all relevant information is fully and detailedly updated in both languages, helping businesses of both countries participate in transactions on the floor and find partners.

ii. Disadvantages :

Vietnamchina portal was born later but still has some of the disadvantages of Vietnamchina portal and some other disadvantages.

Product information : When a business offers for sale or purchase on the exchange, the information provided is very sketchy, including only: a brief introduction of the company, email address and contact phone number. Here is an example of a company's purchase offer:

Member classification : Not classifying participating members is a major limitation of vietnamchina, members do not see the benefits of registering as members and paying fees, so there is no long-term commitment of members to it. At the same time, vietnamchina also loses a significant amount of revenue from collecting fees. In addition, not registering as a member

The staff will also not be able to determine the number of companies participating in the transaction as well as the types of goods on the floor, making it difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of the B2B floor.

On the vietnanchina floor, there are mainly products for purchase, but very few products for sale. This shows that Vietnamese enterprises are not really interested and have a correct view of e-commerce. A habit of Vietnamese export enterprises is to only search for buyers through e-commerce portals but have not taken full advantage of the benefits that e-commerce brings when offering products for sale on it.

Moreover, the businesses participating in transactions on vietnamchina are mainly Vietnamese businesses and rarely see a Chinese business. Thus, promoting bilateral trade between the two countries through the B2B e-commerce portal vietnamchina has not been really successful.

General assessment of current Vietnam - China B2B e-commerce portals:

Although the authorities have invested in building it elaborately, in general, the current B2B e-commerce portals between Vietnam and China still have many shortcomings that are not suitable for Vietnamese SMEs.

The biggest limitation at present is that information about goods and products as well as information about businesses and companies participating in transactions on the floor is still quite limited. The reason for this comes from both businesses and floor owners. On the business side, due to limited awareness of e-commerce in general and B2B e-commerce in particular, they still do not have a correct view of this type as well as the benefits it brings. According to the general concept of Vietnamese SMEs, the B2B floor is where they look for partners, not where they offer their goods and products. Some businesses have been interested in exploiting this benefit but it has not been thoroughly demonstrated by the fact that the information that Vietnamese member businesses provide to floor owners is still sketchy.

The Vietnam-China B2B e-commerce portals built in recent times to serve Vietnam have not really overcome some limitations that cause difficulties for Vietnamese SMEs. Moreover, they have not yet fully exploited their development potential.

On the part of the floor owners: Because it is a state-owned trading floor, it is often affected by the subsidized way of doing business. The floor owners operate with the primary goal not being profit, therefore, trade promotion, marketing and advertising activities to attract businesses to participate in trading on their floor.

With the efforts of the floor owners and the positivity of Vietnamese enterprises, the language issue is no longer too important for Vietnamese SMEs. A floor provides all three

Vietnamese-Chinese-English languages The remaining floors are provided in two languages, Vietnamese and English. The efforts of the floor owner have made it easier for businesses to participate in transactions.

Current economic information has been provided but has not been updated regularly, and membership registration is still too formal, not really meeting the psychology of SMEs when participating in transactions.

Besides, the technology that the floor currently uses is not really the most effective for users, the services and features that the floor provides still lack novelty and stereotype.

2.3. Necessary conditions for successfully building and developing a Vietnam - China B2B e-commerce portal

To successfully build a B2B e-commerce portal between the two countries Vietnam

– For China, the first condition is the diplomatic and economic and trade relations between the two countries. Currently, the economic and trade relations between the two sides are gradually deepening with positive changes in the composition, nature and scope of activities of enterprises in both countries. With a long-standing relationship that has been carefully cultivated by the leaders of the two countries, it has become increasingly close and created certain advantages for enterprises of the two countries when participating in the import and export of goods.

Policies to support businesses of the two countries to trade with each other are also an important factor. With the incentives that the two governments give to businesses of both sides when importing and exporting goods, it will facilitate businesses and promote the development of economic and trade relations between the two countries. A suitable trade promotion policy as well as a favorable legal framework will create conditions for businesses to trade with each other.

Besides, to be able to build a B2B e-commerce portal also requires a diverse and solid infrastructure, including: legal infrastructure,

Information technology - telecommunications infrastructure, electronic payment system, information security infrastructure, freight forwarding infrastructure, resources, etc.

B2B e-commerce infrastructure is a combination of many intertwined factors that cannot be handled individually. Therefore, it is understandable why developing countries, despite being forced by many factors - including the fear of being left behind - have not yet implemented e-commerce, because the necessary infrastructure in these countries has not yet been formed and completed.

2.3.1. Legal basis

Due to the high risks encountered in the transaction process, e-commerce requires not only technical solutions but also a complete legal basis. Experiences around the world show that to promote the development of e-commerce, the role of the State must be clearly demonstrated in the fields of: providing electronic services and building a complete, unified and specific legal system to regulate e-commerce relationships. Building a legal basis and policies for e-commerce in general and B2B e-commerce in particular must solve the following problems:

- Recognize the legal value of all transactions conducted via electronic means. This requires businesses to participate in B2B e-commerce within the permitted framework and affirms the legality when performing e-commerce activities.

- The State must harmonize relevant legal provisions related to e-commerce.

- The State needs to create e-commerce laws and form a legal framework to create a foundation for e-commerce development.

- The State needs to have reasonable policies to create a foundation for e-commerce development.

- Have policies to protect intellectual property rights and protect consumers.