Opportunities and Challenges in Vietnam’s B2C E-Commerce: The Role of Digital Infrastructure

This bachelor thesis evaluates how key digital infrastructure factors create opportunities and pose challenges for B2C e-commerce development in Vietnam between 2018 and 2025. It adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining secondary data analysis with a qualitative case study of Shopee Vietnam, and focuses on four main factors: ICT connectivity, digital payments, logistics, and the regulatory environment. The findings suggest that widespread 4G and emerging 5G coverage, together with the rapid shift toward mobile-first digital payments, have been major drivers of market expansion. However, high logistics costs and the ongoing digital divide between urban and rural areas continue to limit overall efficiency. At the same time, government initiatives, particularly the National Digital Transformation Program and related policies, have played an important role in promoting financial inclusion and strengthening the legal framework for e-commerce. The case study shows that Shopee Vietnam has responded by internalizing key infrastructure processes to sustain its market leadership, although it faces increasing operational costs and growing competitive pressure from other platforms.