More than just an additional sales channel
For many years, competitiveness of Vietnamese export businesses has been built on familiar advantages such as low production costs, an abundant workforce, ability to fulfill large orders and an expanding network of free trade agreements (FTAs). These advantages remain valuable, but are clearly no longer sufficient to guarantee a business's position in a rapidly changing global trade environment.
The difference in current period lies not only in fluctuations of supply chains or increasingly fierce competition among exporting countries. More importantly, nature of export activities is changing. While previously businesses competed primarily on production capacity, now ability to apply technology, leverage data and operate in a digital environment is becoming a new competitive advantage. In other words, exports are entering a new "race" where AI, big data, cross-border e-commerce and digital logistics are no longer just supporting tools but are reshaping entire export value chain.
This is a structural change. Digital exporting is not simply about putting products on an international e-commerce platform or building an English-language sales website. If it stops there, businesses are only digitizing a very small part of their operations.
Essence of digital exporting is transforming entire approach to market access. From researching customer needs using data, finding partners using AI, optimizing promotion on digital platforms, managing orders in real time, to connecting logistics and providing after-sales customer service, everything is operated on a technology platform. It is this data-driven management capability that creates difference between businesses that can rapidly expand their markets and those that still rely on traditional promotional methods.
At recent trade networking conference "Mastering AI agents, leading future of export," Roger Luo, Director of South Asia and Southeast Asia at Alibaba.com, stated that in context of global trade, AI is no longer a technology of the future. It has become a core infrastructure, reshaping the way businesses operate. Vietnam continues to be one of rapidly growing markets, with number of new exporters joining platform increasing by approximately 10% year-on-year between April 2025 and March 2026.

According to Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam's total import and export turnover is likely to reach US$1 trillion for the first time in 2026. In the first seven months of 2026, total import and export turnover reached US$659.58 billion, an increase of 28.1% year-on-year.
(According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in 2026, Vietnam's total import and export turnover is likely to reach US$1 trillion for the first time.) In overall structure of import and export turnover, export through cross-border e-commerce are accounting for an increasing proportion. By 2025, e-commerce exports are projected to grow by 78%, reflecting a strong shift towards online channels. However, total value of import and export through this channel is only about US$4.45 billion, still modest compared to overall size of the economy.
Digital capabilities will determine position of export businesses.
According to experts, many Vietnamese businesses still have an incomplete understanding of the concept of digital export. Many consider opening a storefront on Alibaba, Amazon or other cross-border e-commerce platforms as having completed digital transformation process in exports. However, these platforms are only "doorways" to access market. Whether or not they can successfully enter that door depends on management capabilities, data quality, brand building ability, meeting international standards and maintaining customer experience.
This is also why many businesses, despite having a presence on international platforms, still haven't achieved their full potential in terms of business performance. Without leveraging customer data, utilizing AI for market analysis or optimizing marketing activities, businesses find it difficult to create a competitive advantage against millions of suppliers on the same platform.
Furthermore, cross-border e-commerce sector still faces many challenges: dependence on international platforms; low added value of goods; uncompetitive logistics costs compared to foreign goods; a shortage of skilled personnel; and risks related to legal issues, payments and online fraud.
At the recent seminar "E-commerce boosting export: Current situation and solutions," organized by Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM) in collaboration with specialized agencies and partners, Ms. Le Hoang Oanh, Director of E-commerce and Digital Economy Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade, affirmed that e-commerce exports are one of important pillars of national e-commerce development master plan for a period of 2026-2030. In context of global instability, cross-border e-commerce is not just a simple sales channel but has become a crucial driving force helping Vietnamese businesses directly access billions of global consumers, reduce logistics, advertising and warehousing costs and enhance brand image of Vietnamese companies.
From a policy perspective, enactment of E-commerce Law in July 2026, along with national e-commerce development master plan for a period of 2026-2030, is creating an important foundation for digital exports. These policies aim to build a transparent business environment, promote cross-border e-commerce, improve digital infrastructure and enhance capacity of the business community. This can be considered process of building a "runway" for businesses to take off in the international market.
However, policies can only create conditions; they cannot replace proactive efforts of businesses. Given that many large e-commerce platforms are still owned by foreign companies, Vietnamese businesses need to invest more systematically in digital governance, quality standards, AI and Big Data applications and effectively exploit the benefits from FTAs. This is not only a solution to enhance immediate competitiveness but also a condition for gradually building Vietnamese brands in global digital environment. 2026 is expected to be a milestone when Vietnam's total import and export turnover reaches US$1 trillion for the first time. This is not just a statistical figure, but also reflects increasingly large scale of economy and deep integration of Vietnam into global trade. However, to maintain growth momentum in following years, exports cannot continue to rely primarily on expanding production scale or increasing output. New driving force must come from innovating the growth model, in which digital exports will play an increasingly important role.
In global competition being shaped by technology, AI can help businesses reach customers faster, cross-border e-commerce can help shorten market distances and data can help optimize all business decisions. But ultimately, decisive factor remains the transformation capacity of the businesses themselves. Digital export, therefore, are not just about applying technology. This is a process of restructuring management thinking, building brands and upgrading competitiveness.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn