Re: [Vnbiz] E-Market

Brief Diagnosis from "Dr. eCommerce" ;)

Object to examine: VNet.com.vn "eCommerce website".
Date of examination: 02.06.2003

General:
This is not a single company selling their own products, but a mart/market
like venture. If the payment system works, then the money of the customer
would go first to the company that runs the market - which in turn had to
give the money to the seller. This "3-party setup" introduces some
additional potential trouble spots.

Problems:
- The site does not make any specifications at all about which company
is running this "VNet e-Market".
Would you send money to a company that is trying to hide its identity?

I had to dig quite deep, until I found it - in the "help" section - by
chance:
http://www.vnet.com.vn/market/help_thumoi.htm
VNET JOINT STOCK COMPANY
7 Dao Duy Anh, Dong Da, Hanoi.
Tel/Fax: (84-4)5770108-5770112
Director: Duong Anh Duc
In "normal situation", this alone would be the stop for me, not to waste
any more time on such a site. However, since you asked, I will continue:
- What is the legal setup of a purchase?
Is the site only the payment agent, or are the goods actually purchased
from VNet JSC?
In latter case: Does VNet JSC have the licenses to sell such goods?
Maybe there are answers in the "help" section.
- When "checking out", I get a warning, that the security certificate
is kind of invalid.
This would normally be the next stop, where I normally would leave that
site.
- Customers need to register first.
Do they post any privacy policy on their website?
- When browsing a bit in the products, I got an error:
Microsoft VBScript runtime error '800a01a8'
Object required: ''
/market/poc.asp, line 189
Means: the software is not setup properly.
- Check-out process:
I had to enter obviously the delivery address, and was then presented
with an
invoice, but when one usually would reach the gateway page and enter
the credit card details, I was thrown back to the index page.
I assume, that in case I would have given real data when registering,
somebody would try to contact me now and do a very normal paper-Commerce
deal.

Conclusion:
Of the five typical eCommerce steps "offer-order-invoice-payment-delivery",
only the first one is implemented, and it is not even clear to me, whether
the offer is a legally binding one.
There are many sites like that already in Vietnam. Nothing new. And again
no real eCommerce site.
But in the press, it is once again one of the many "first". See below.

It would be interesting to hear our friends from VCCI how they compare
their own site with that new one.

Stefan

PS:
here is the URL, as obtained today (I did not see the article when I wrote
the review above).
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/2003-06/02/Stories/14.htm
As you see, they write about an online payment, although it is not in place.
Hot air, IMHO.

Viet Nam's first e-market, Vnet, is online for business

HA NOI - Viet Nam's first e-market was launched by the Vnet Joint Stock
Company in Ha Noi last Saturday.

Vnet director Duong Anh Duc said the company has already attracted hundreds
of businesses from the northern provinces to offer over 3,000 goods for
sale at the Vnet E-market.

The goods and services available at the VNet website, www.vnnet.com.vn,
include office, computer and home furniture, electronics, food and handicrafts.

"One of our main objectives is to develop Vnet E-market into a nationwide
online market, supplying products to consumers throughout Viet Nam," Duc said.

Vnet spent two years setting up the enterprise, and conducted comprehensive
surveys of 2,000 firms in northern provinces and cities.

Director of Viet Nam Trade Promotion Agency under Ministry of Trade, Ngo
Van Thoan, said the launch of Vnet E-market is a milestone for the
development of e-commerce in Viet Nam, even though it falls far behind
other countries.

Thoan said that Vnet faces immediate challenges due to the absence of a
legal framework for e-commerce, poor infrastructure, low consumer
awareness, and lack of qualified personnel.

To provide incentives for consumers to buy online, Vnet has asked
participating companies to reduce their prices by 10 per cent, as well as
coordinating with cafe owners to promote the e-market to their internet
customers.

The company has joined with the Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam and the
Viet Nam Software Development Company to set-up a secure e-payment system
for customers wanting to pay online.

For Vnet to be successful, it will be reliant on the active participation
of enterprises and on-line customers, along with its reliable technology,
Duc said.

Vnet has established six branches in provinces and cities of Ha Noi, Hai
Phong, Hai Duong, Hung Yen, Nam Dinh and Thai Nguyen to enable customers
based in these regions to deliver goods.

Vnet expects to have branches across the country by 2004, with the time
frame for delivering goods ranging from two to 24 hours. - VNS

-------------------------------------

At 19:50 01.06.2003 -0700, Tran Dinh Hoanh wrote:
-------------------------
>[ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>Dear CACE,
>
>This article is about E-Market, a new website to help Vnese companies doing
>ECommerce http://www.vnet.com.vn . I visit the webiste and saw a number of
>companies with info about themselves and their products. And I tried to
>order something, but got stuck at the middle of the process when I got to
>the password part. I didn't understand what they wanted me to do then, and
>whatever I clicked it didn't work. (This site obviously focuses on domestic
>market only, because everything is written in Vietnamese).
>
>I was just trying to see how they arrange the payment part.
>
>Anh Stefan, I am sure that you will study this and tell us what you think.
>Sorry I don't have enough time to translate the article for you.
>
>Have a great day!
>
>Hoanh
>____
>
>Thu bảy, 31/5/2003, 11:45 GMT+7
>Ra mắt chợ giao dịch thương mại điện tử VNet
>
>
>Ông Dương Anh �ức - Tổng giám đốc VNet.
>Sáng nay, Công ty cổ phần VNet chính thức giới thiệu hệ
>thống giao dịch
>thÆ°Æ¡ng mại Ä‘iện tá»­ E-Market, cho phép các công ty mở gian hÃ
>ng ảo để giới
>thiệu và bán sản phẩm qua mạng. �ã có 167 doanh nghiệp tham
>gia hệ thống với
>28 nhóm hà ng trên http://www.vnet.com.vn.
>
>Ông Dương Anh �ức - Tổng giám đốc VNet - cho biết: “Chúng
>tôi chuyển giao
>công nghệ quản lý gian hà ng ảo cho doanh nghiệp để h� có
>thể chuẩn hóa các
>loại sản phẩm, xử lý thông tin đặt hà ng, chuyển hà ng
>và nhận ti�n. Ngư�i bán
>có thể giao hà ng cho chi nhánh của VNet ở các tỉnh thà nh.
>Chúng tôi sẽ giao
>hà ng và thu ti�n hộ. Với hà ng hóa thông thư�ng, mức
>cước vận tải trên mỗi kg
>là 1.000 đồng (nội hạt) hoặc 1.500 đồng (ngoại tỉnh).
>Thá»�i gian giao hà ng lÃ
>từ 8 đến 20 gi��.
>
>VNet đã thà nh lập chi nhánh tại 6 địa phương phía Bắc
>(Hà Nội, Hải Phòng,
>Hải Dương, Hưng Yên, Nam �ịnh và Thái Nguyên) và hệ thống
>vận tải giao nhận.
>Công ty có kế hoạch Ä‘Æ°a dịch vụ đến vá»›i 30 tỉnh và thÃ
>nh phố và o cuối năm
>2004, tiến tới triển khai ra nước ngoà i. “VNet sẽ hợp tác
>vá»›i Cybercash vÃ
>Vietcombank để thá»±c hiện thanh toán trá»±c tuyến trong và ngoÃ
>i nước�, ông �ức
>nói.
>
>Ông Vũ Thiên Hựu, Giám đốc công ty cổ phần bánh đậu xanh
>Quê Hương, đánh giá
>cao những lợi ích mà E-Market đem lại như không phải đầu
>tư hạ tầng, chi phí
>giao nhận thấp, được há»— trợ thông tin thị trÆ°á»�ng… ÃÔng
>đ� nghị VNet lấy Quê
>Hương là m thí điểm triển khai thương mại điện tử quốc
>tế vì 97% doanh thu
>của công ty đến từ xuất khẩu.
>
>Ngoà i việc thu hút cộng đồng doanh nghiệp đến với thương
>mại điện tử, VNet
>còn tạo đi�u kiện cho sinh viên kinh doanh qua Internet. Công ty
>đang cùng
>với Ban vận động thà nh lập Hội Tin h�c Trẻ Việt Nam xây
>dựng Chương trình hỗ
>trợ doanh nhân tương lai kinh doanh điện tử. “Em sẽ tham
>dự các khóa đà o tạo
>miễn phí v� thương mại điện tử và mở một gian hà ng
>ảo kinh doanh hoa tươi
>trên VNet E-Market�, Nguyễn Thế Nam - sinh viên năm cuối khoa
>Thương mại,
>trư�ng �ại h�c Kinh tế quốc dân - tiết lộ dự định
>của mình với phóng viên
>VnExpress.
>
>_________
>
>Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
>Attorney at Law
>Washington DC, USA
>Email: hoanhtr@erols.com