Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnamese firms are urged to use online platformsto expand their market reach in the UK now that the UK-Vietnam Free TradeAgreement (UKVFTA) has come into effect, experts said.

With revenue of 117.7 billion USD in 2021, the UK is the fourth largest marketfor e-commerce in the world, placing it ahead of Germany and behind Japan,according to global provider of market and consumer data Statista.

Last year, the UK e-commerce market contributed to a worldwide growth rate of15% with an increase of 12%, Statista said.

The biggest player in the UK e-commerce market is amazon.co.uk. The store hadrevenue of 17.1 billion USD in 2021. It was followed by tesco.com andargos.co.uk which gained respective revenue of 9.5 billion USD and 6.3 billionUSD. Altogether, these top three stores account for 30% of online revenue inthe UK.

Meanwhile, Vietnam is regarded as the second largest e-commerce market inSoutheast Asia, only after Indonesia, according to a global e-commerce reportin the first half of 2022 by Metric.vn.

The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has also given fresh impetus to the country’se-commerce industry which recorded growth of up to 53% in 2021, making it theoptimal form of transactions for individuals and firms.

With such rapid growth, experts said it is time for both sides to raise the baron this platform in order to facilitate online business.

According to Bui Thanh Hang, head of the International Cooperation Office underthe Ministry of Industry and Trade’s E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency, theUKVFTA has allowed new means of market entry to emerge, notably e-commerce.

B2B and B2C are traditional forms of business for this platform, but new formsare also beginning to take root, including online showrooms and nationalpavilions, she said.

In order to help firms keep pace with these innovations, the government isurged to continue to refine the legal framework and develop programmes thatimprove firms’ capacity. At the same time, firms themselves should embracedigital transformation and put it on top of their agenda to be able to expandtheir market footprint via e-commerce.

In a bright spot, Vietnamese businesses have effectively taken advantage ofAmazon's innovations to strongly develop and build the "Made-in-Vietnam"brand on the world map, thereby leaving a strong mark of the country's economyon the international market including the UK.

At the same time, several Vietnamese goods have affirmed their positions inanother e-commerce platform in the UK, alibaba.com. In 2021, the UK positioneditself among the top 10 buyers of food and beverage, top six for clothes, andcame in fourth in terms of furniture from Vietnam.

Notably, it was the second-largest buyer of Vietnamese cosmetics on thate-commerce website./.