BANKING ACADEMY FACULTY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION ------o0o------ GRADUATION THESIS TOPIC: COMPETITIVENESS ENHANCEMENT FOR ONPOINT COMPANY LIMITED AMONG VIETNAMESE E-COMMERCE ENABLERS Student : Nguyễn Văn Lãm Class : K20 - CLCM Course : 2017-2021 Student code : 20A4030155 Lecturer : PhD. Nguyen Van Ha Ha Noi, 20th May, 2021 17014126029491000000 DECLARATION I declare that the thesis entitled “Competitiveness enhancement for OnPoint Company Limited among Vietnamese E-commerce Enablers” is carried out by me, conducted under the supervision of PhD. Nguyen Van Ha, Head of Business Administration Faculty, Banking Academy. Whole or any part of the work has not been submitted before in order to qualify for any other academic degree.
The content in the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since the date of approval of the research program, and the data has been approved by OnPoint Company Limited. All the ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed properly while preparing the thesis. In case of failure to comply with any rules, I will take full responsibility to the Faculty and Banking Academy. Hanoi, May 20th, 2021 Student Nguyễn Văn Lãm i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Firstly, I would like to give the best thanks to my supervisor PhD.
Nguyen Van Ha for her guidance and supervision in writing this thesis. She always helped me whenever I was in need of her in my research or writing. She guided me in the right direction and also assisted me at every step. Secondly, I express my gratitude and appreciation to OnPoint Company Limited and Mr.
Quang Tran - CEO, Ms. Doan Nguyen Da Huong - Commercial Director, Ms. Tu Nguyen - Commercial Director, Ms. Van Tran – Commercial Director, Mr.
Hung Nguyen - Head of Strategy, Ms. Linh Pham - Human Resources Manager, Ms. Thao Vu - Group Brand Manager,. who devoted time and effort to help me complete my thesis, with their expertise and knowledge in this industry.
Without their help, this thesis would not be completed. Finally, I would like to give my gratitude for all the supportive comments to complete and fulfill this graduation thesis. I expect that my thesis will be helpful for companies, lectures and readers. Student Nguyen Van Lam ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
v LIST OF FIGURES. vi LIST OF TABLES. viii GENERAL INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the topic.
Subject and scope of the research. Subject of the research. Scope of the research .4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Theory applies to research topics.
The concept of competitiveness. Factors affecting the company’s competitiveness. External factors of company’s competitiveness .17 CHAPTER 2: COMPETITIVENESS SITUATION OF ONPOINT COMPANY LIMITED. The formation and development process.
Business model & services. OnPoint’s competitiveness situation. OnPoint external factors.64 CHAPTER 3: SOLUTIONS FOR ENHANCING COMPETITIVENESS FOR ONPOINT LIMITED COMPANY. 78 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Name of abbreviations Definition 3PL Third-party logistics CS/CX Customer Service/Customer Experience C2C Customer-to-Customer B2C Business-to-Customer B2B Business-to-Business IT Information Technology KOL Key Opinion Leader SKU Stock-keeping Unit SME Small to Medium Enterprise OMS Order management system WMS Warehouse management system O2O Online-to-offline v LIST OF FIGURES Name of figures Page Figure 1.
E-commerce Enabler in value chain 6 Figure 1.2: E-commerce Enabler 7 Figure 1. Internal Environment 9 Figure 1. Five pressure model of competition 13 Figure 1. External analysis 19 Figure 2.
OnPoint’s business model 21 Figure 2. Organizational chart 24 Figure 2. Age of OnPoint’s employees 31 Figure 2. Gender of OnPoint’s employees 31 Figure 2.
Qualification of OnPoint’s employees 32 Figure 2. Expertise of OnPoint’s employees 32 Figure 2. OnPoint’s revenue growth 35 vi Figure 2. Vietnamese E-Commerce marketplace’s revenue from 2015 - 40 2019 Figure 2.
E-commerce expenditure in Vietnam, by category 42 Figure 2. Vietnamese’ consumer behavior on E-commerce 45 Figure 2. Number of OnPoint’s brands 50 Figure 2. E-commerce platform traffic ranking 54 Figure 2.
Threat of new entrant 61 Figure 2. Bargaining power of customer 61 Figure 2. Industry Rivalry 61 Figure 2. Bargaining power of supplier 62 Figure 2.
Threat of substitution 63 vii LIST OF TABLES Name of table Page Table 1. SWOT analysis 18 Table 2. OnPoint’s services 22 Table 2. OnPoint’s management team 29 Table 2.
Internet usage situation in Vietnam in 2020 39 Table 2. Proportion of smartphone users accessing the internet in Vietnam 39 2020 Table 2. The scale of E-commerce marketplaces in Vietnam (White book 41 2020) Table 2. The traffic of E-commerce website in Vietnam 43 Table 2.
Enabler evaluation by Lazada’s criteria 46 Table 2. OnPoint SWOT analysis 63 viii GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the topic According to the Vietnam e-Commerce and Digital Economy Agency (iDEA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, has showed that with 53 per cent of the population participating in online shopping, the E-commerce market in Vietnam increased 18 per cent, reaching $11.8 billion last year, accounting for 5.5 per cent of total retail sales of consumer goods and services nationwide. In 2025, the B2C e-commerce model’s revenue is forecast to increase by 25 per cent year-over-year, reaching $35 billion, accounting for 10 per cent of the total retail sales of goods and services in the whole country, with remarkable E- commerce platforms namely Tiki, Sendo, Lazada, Shopee,.
E-commerce platforms became the new and potential channels for brands to acquire new customers, expand their current market share, and contribute more value to customers. However, E- commerce is a super fast-changing environment where marketplaces like Lazada, Shopee, and Tiki are frequently updating their features, technologies, and policies while new business models like GrabMart, VnShop, or influencer marketing constantly emerge. E-commerce is also an operationally complex business where it is crucial to smoothly co-ordinate fragmented factors. Therefore, brands need a one- stop solution conveniently to help simplify the working process with various stakeholders like marketplaces, and service providers such as business process outsourcing companies, marketing agencies, fulfillment third-party logistics (3PL) groups, and last-mile delivery.
That solution is also called “E-commerce Enabler”. Capturing the brand's pain point and potential market, OnPoint was founded in December 2017 and has rapidly become the No.1 E-commerce enabler in Vietnam. OnPoint has served the most significant number of brands across different product categories such as Health & Beauty, Mom & Babies, Fashion, and Home Appliances. The company's clients are some of the biggest names in each vertical, such as L'Oreal, Shiseido, P&G, Rohto, Beiersdorf, Unilever International, and Watsons.
Kimberly-Clark, Unicharm, CJ Group, Anlene, Aldo, Bosch, Groupe Seb,… 1 Notably, in April 2020, OnPoint closed its Series A funding round with over $8 million to accelerate its revenue growth and develop an innovative e-commerce solution for its roster of blue-chip clients during the Covid-19 pandemic. Compared to other competitors in the market, OnPoint has superior human resources, technology, and service. Therefore, OnPoint can adequately provide end- to-end service solutions as Commercial Management, E-Marketing, Customer Service & Operation. Simultaneously, OnPoint organizes and operates outstanding big promotion campaigns, coupled with its success in supporting brands to launch online stores on e-commerce platforms.
However, there are still numerous challenges that OnPoint needs to handle. As a start-up, OnPoint's processes are still confused and complicated, along with not substantial resources and undeveloped Technology infrastructure. The warehouse system does not have enough capacity to serve the volume of goods during peak occasions such as big E-commerce campaigns, which led to the OnPoint’s productivity not being optimized. Moreover, OnPoint is an intermediary between brands and E-commerce platforms; therefore, the complexity of managing customers, goods, finance.
Accordingly, OnPoint needs to have reasonable competitive solutions to leverage the strong potential of the E-commerce industry and E-commerce enabler in particular, to proliferate and expand its influence in this “money-burning” industry. For all those reasons, I chose the topic "Competitiveness enhancement for OnPoint Company Limited among Vietnamese E-commerce Enablers'' to analyze and suggest recommendations to strengthen OnPoint’s competitiveness in the E-commerce growing industry. Objectives The primary objective of this study is to examine OnPoint's competitive advantages in the market for E-commerce service providers (E-commerce Enabler). In addition, pointing out the difficulties that OnPoint is facing and suggesting recommendations for OnPoint to enhance competitiveness and maintain growth momentum.
Determine and illuminate the characteristics of OnPoint's current products and services 2. Competitiveness analysis of OnPoint Company with advantages and disadvantages 3. Propose solutions to strengthen OnPoint’s competitiveness 3. Subject and scope of the research 3.
Subject of the research The research subject is the competitiveness of OnPoint E-commerce Company’s internal and external factors. Scope of the research - Space: OnPoint Limited Company, 27B Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, Da Kao Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Time: From 2017 to 2022 - From 2017 to 2020: Collect research data - From 2020 to 2022: Solutions and recommendations 4. Research Methodology Data collection method: - Secondary data: + External documents: Collect form reports, articles and other related books about E-commerce and external environment’s information: E-commerce landscape, E-commerce market overview, competitor’s website, politics, legal. + The internal information of OnPoint company: annual report, OnPoint’s profile,.
from Human Resources Department - Primary data: + In-depth interview: In-depth interview with 10 managers with a scale questionnaire based on their knowledge about competitors. Some other 3 questions are about company information, strengths and weaknesses. The results will be consolidated and analyzed + Observation: Students observe employees in the workplace: their attitude in working, tasks-complete capability, communication and working performance. Research structure In addition to the introduction, conclusion, references, and appendices, the thesis has three main chapters: Chapter 1: Literature review Chapter 2: Competitiveness situation of OnPoint Limited Company Chapter 3: Solutions for enhancing competitiveness for OnPoint Limited Company 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.
Theory applies to research topics 1. E-commerce concept E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. The term was coined and first employed by Dr. Robert Jacobson, Principal Consultant to the California State Assembly's Utilities & Commerce Committee, in the title and text of California's Electronic Commerce Act, carried by the late Committee Chairwoman Gwen Moore (D-L.) and enacted in 1984.
Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. E- commerce is in turn driven by the technological advances of the semiconductor industry, and is the largest sector of the electronics industry. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web for at least one part of the transaction's life cycle although it may also use other technologies such as e-mail. Typical E-commerce transactions include the purchase of online books (such as Amazon) and music purchases (music download in the form of digital distribution such as iTunes Store), and to a less extent, customized/personalized online liquor store inventory services.
There are three areas of e-commerce: online retailing, electronic markets, and online auctions. E- commerce is supported by electronic business. E-commerce businesses may also employ some or all of the followings: - Online shopping for retail sales direct to consumers via Web sites and mobile apps, and conversational commerce via live chat, chatbots, and voice assistants - Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which process third-party business-to-consumer (B2C) or consumer-to-consumer (C2C) sales - Business-to-business (B2B) buying and selling 5 - Gathering and using demographic data through web contacts and social media - Business-to-business (B2B) electronic data interchange - Marketing to prospective and established customers by e-mail or fax (for example, with newsletters) - Engaging in pretail for launching new products and services - Online financial exchanges for currency exchanges or trading purposes. E-commerce Enabler Figure 1.
E-commerce Enabler in value chain (Source: OnPoint introduction - Internal document) According to Arriva-asia, a definition of e-commerce enabler is the company that provides full or partial solutions for brands on setting up their e-commerce store.