Viettel Post. Applying technology becomes vital for postal companies to compete and promote e-commerce and the digital economy. (Photo: vneconomy.vn) Thisgoal was highlighted in the National Postal Development Strategy to2025 approved recently by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam.
Thestrategy sets a goal of developing the postal industry into an essentialelement of the country’s infrastructure.
Thepostal and delivery industry was forecast to reach annual revenue of 10 billionUSD by 2030, given the current growth rate of around 20-30 percent per year.
Thestrategy stressed that completing the digital address platform in line with thenational digital map was important for the development of e-commerce and thedigital economy.
Accordingto Duong Ton Bao from the Department of Posts under the Ministry of Informationand Communications, the drastic change in the postal and e-commerce market,along with the development of digital technology in the Industry 4.0 era, hasbeen changing ways of doing business and opening up new opportunities for thedevelopment of the postal industry.
Theindustry needed new strategies to create breakthrough development, he said.
Hecited the report of the Vietnam e-Commerce Association that the e-commercemarket would expand at an average of 29 percent per year to reach 52billion USD by 2025.
Thehuge volume of goods traded via online channels led to an explosive demand fordelivery services – a huge potential for the postal industry to tap andtransform from delivering newsletters to an important foundation for e-commercedevelopment, an essential infrastructure of the digital economy.
“Thepostal industry plays a role in ensuring the flow of materials besides the flowof data in the digital economy and digital society,” Bao wrote on vietnamnet.vn.
Hesaid the postal market in Vietnam was witnessing the intertwining between theold and the new, stressing that the market would see increasingly harshcompetition.
Traditionalpostal companies which were slow to renovate were losing market share tostart-ups and technology enterprises which were young in experience but fasterin applying technology.
Hesaid this forced the postal industry to transform itself into a digital supplynetwork, and there was no other way.
Accordingly,the postal development strategy emphasised that modern technology was the core,and a Made-in-Vietnam ecosystem of digital platforms would be the breakthroughsolution.
“Postalenterprises develop in the direction of becoming enterprises which applydigital technologies to create new products and services and ensure peopleacross the country have the right to access and use quality postal services atreasonable fees,” the strategy said.
Thefocus would be on building a Made-in-Vietnam ecosystem of digital platforms,including digital addresses and e-commerce platforms.
Thestrategy targeted that, by 2025, all households across the country would havedigital addresses, and all farmer households would participate in e-commerceplatforms developed by postal companies.
Accordingto Bao, the postal industry owns huge resources with a network of over21,600 points reaching to commune level and covering 63 provinces and citiestogether with nearly 800 enterprises operating in the industry.
Thepostal infrastructure coupled with the telecommunications infrastructure,electronic payment and digital address would promote the development ofe-commerce and help expand the market for postal services, he said.
Thepostal industry would promote e-commerce in rural areas to accelerate thedigital agricultural economy and enable residents to access public services.
“Thedigital revolution and the COVID-19 pandemic have changed the global economicgrowth model. Vietnam’s postal industry sees this as an opportunity to becomean essential infrastructure of the country and the digital economy andcontribute to promoting the development of digital government and digitalsociety,” he said.
Hanoito pilot digital address
TheHanoi People’s Committee has issued a plan to carry out a pilot implementationof the national digital address platform associated with the digital map in thecapital city.
Accordingly,the pilot scheme would be implemented in Hoang Mai, Hoan Kiem, Nam Tu Liem,Dong Anh and Thach That districts, then raised recommendations for large-scaleimplementation to serve the development of digital government, digital economyand digital society.
Serviceswhich applied digital addresses would also be piloted, including tourism, fireprevention and fighting, and postal services./.
VNA