Vietnam’s ecommerce is growing quickly, and fulfillment is no longer a simple warehouse task. It is becoming a competitive weapon built on speed, accuracy, and customer trust.
A few years ago, many online sellers in Vietnam could still manage orders from a small stockroom and a phone. That era is fading fast. Today, customers expect delivery updates in real time, next day arrivals in big cities, and simple returns. This is exactly why fulfillment services are expanding so quickly. Fulfillment is the system that stores inventory, processes orders, packs parcels, coordinates shipping, and handles returns, so sellers can scale without losing control of quality.
The momentum is powered by market growth. Vietnam’s retail ecommerce scale has been reported at about US$25 billion in 2024, and industry reporting also highlights rapid expansion in online retail value. When order volumes surge, the weakest link is rarely marketing. It is operations. Late deliveries, wrong items, and slow refunds damage trust in seconds, so brands increasingly invest in fulfillment to protect the customer experience.
What is changing on the ground is infrastructure. Providers are building larger, more automated hubs, upgrading sorting capacity, and expanding nationwide coverage to serve both dense urban zones and harder to reach areas. For example, SPX Express has announced major investments in automated sorting facilities in northern Vietnam, signaling how seriously logistics players are scaling for the next wave of ecommerce demand.
At the same time, Vietnam’s fulfillment model must match local realities. Cash on delivery remains common, customer service is expected to be responsive, and returns are no longer optional. Sellers want fulfillment partners that can integrate inventory data, provide accurate tracking, and shorten the time between “order placed” and “order delivered.” The winners will be the operators who make the process feel effortless for customers, even when the network behind it is complex.
Policy direction also supports this shift. The government has approved a national logistics strategy for 2025 to 2035, and coverage highlights ecommerce fulfillment and modern logistics as priority areas for upgrading competitiveness.
For students in International Trade, this is a strong signal: the future of ecommerce is not only about selling online. It is about delivering well, and fulfillment is where strategy becomes real performance.
Phan Thi Thu Hang, Faculty of Economics and Management