2025 Vietnam Digital Market Report: E-Commerce, AI & Platform Power Shifts

In 2024, we published the article, “2024 Wrap-Up: Insights and Outlook for Vietnam’s Digital Advertising and E-commerce,” where we spotlighted video commerce, ad fraud, and generative AI as the defining themes of that year.

This new article picks up directly from there, aiming to trace how those dynamics evolved through 2025 — what held steady, what accelerated, and what new forces have emerged. By revisiting those key themes and adding fresh insights around marketplace reorganization, AI-driven optimization, and evolving agency roles, this piece aims to give you not just a retrospective but a forward-looking playbook for navigating Vietnam’s rapidly shifting digital ecosystem.

1. The Rise of Two Giants — and the Harsh Reality of Platform Fees

If 2024 was the year of expansion, 2025 was the year of consolidation in Vietnam’s e-commerce scene. The dominance of Shopee and TikTok Shop became unmistakable. While total platform GMV continued to grow, over 7,000 sellers exited the market in the first half of 2025, reflecting stronger selection pressure. Vietdata: “More than 7,000 sellers ‘leave the market’ in 1H/2025”

TikTok Shop’s share reached around 42%, closing in on Shopee’s roughly 55%. The user habit has shifted: livestream shopping is no longer a special event but part of everyday browsing — watching during lunch breaks or in idle moments, with purchases following naturally.

Meanwhile, Shopee — having reached a scale where network effects fully kick in — raised seller fees in April 2025. VietnamNews reports that both Shopee and TikTok Shop adjusted commission rates across several categories. One seller from Hanoi warned that the increase “is a shock to people who sell solely on e-commerce platforms.” (E.vnExpress) Further details fee hikes up to 9% in certain categories.

This shift pushed many sellers to rethink their business models: either absorb the fee, raise prices (risking competitive disadvantage), or diversify to other channels. The market is now more clearly running on “platform logic”, where those unable to adapt are quietly squeezed out.

Looking forward, continued development of logistics infrastructure and the growth of Vietnam’s middle class suggest increased e-commerce penetration into provincial areas. Still, the pressure on smaller brands in the short term has been acute, and 2025 made clear that thriving here is no longer about trying harder — it’s about adapting faster.

2. The AI Takeover — and the “Let It Run” Era

If 2024 saw experimentation with AI, 2025 was the quiet turning point when AI became the baseline. Advertising engines now make the bulk of decisions.

With Meta Ads, the difference was perceivable. In our managing campaigns, I felt 2025’s performance was stronger than 2024’s—not just in raw metrics, but in stability, predictability, and uplift. That aligns with observed improvements in targeting and optimization capabilities.

On TikTok Shop, the “GMV Max” feature went mainstream. Advertisers set the goal and budget; the AI handles placement, bid adjustments, and creative selection. This efficiency means campaign cycles can be much shorter. But it also means campaigns that aren’t differentiated by clever data structuring or compelling creative run the risk of blending into the crowd.

In creative work, video generation tools like Veo 3 entered the real world. Being able to spin off multiple versions of short-form video ads in minutes reshaped expectations. Roles purely focused on execution (static design, for example) are becoming commoditized. The leaders now are those who can design, test, and interpret, not just produce.

One of the more surprising developments was the ascendance of AEO (Answer Engine Optimization). In late 2025, ChatGPT’s “Instant Checkout” capability enabled conversational shopping: users can ask, compare, and buy all within the chat interface. Brands that fail to prepare structured product data, FAQ schemas, and metadata risk invisibility in this emerging interface.

At Feedforce Vietnam, once we rolled out structured data across our properties, traffic from ChatGPT referrals rose to around 20% of all visits. That number offers a glimpse into how fast “AI discovery” is becoming as foundational as SEO once was.

3. Strategy and Technology at the Core

For agencies like ours, one truth stood out in 2025: execution alone is no longer a differentiator. When algorithmic optimization is built in, the value moves upstream. What clients now demand is strategy + technical enablement.

Upstream strategy means clarifying the right channels, KPIs, and brand positioning before funding any campaign. Technical enablement means building a data foundation— schema architecture, BI dashboards, API pipelines—that lets AI-driven marketing actually work in a dependable way.

While AI executes, humans must answer the question: what do we train it to learn, and what experience do we build around it? That’s where creativity, cultural context, and insight still matter most.

We also observe many in-house marketing teams in Vietnam growing more self-reliant. With cross-platform dashboards and data visibility, smaller teams are now able to orchestrate performance across channels. The emphasis is no longer on manpower, but on orchestration and leverage.

Looking toward 2026, I believe we will see leaner teams deliver a heavier impact. Success will favor those who can design data intelligently, enable cross-functional flows, and invent customer journeys that work across platforms, languages, and AI interfaces.

In short, 2025 was the year Vietnam’s digital market crossed a threshold. AI matured, platforms consolidated, and the rules changed — not in theory, but in practice. For businesses, the question is no longer how to catch up with technology, but how to work alongside it—strategically, creatively, and authentically.