Visa partners with Vietnam’s Nexttech Group to promote digital payments adoption

Digital commerce firm Nexttech Group said it has signed a three-year partnership with payments major Visa to promote the adoption of digital payments among small businesses in Vietnam.

Photo credit: Nexttech

The partnership will see the two companies working on a range of initiatives to expand the network of sellers and buyers on social commerce platforms, according to a statement. This includes creating convenient means for online payments through links on social networks and other online platforms.

Nexttech said in its statement that ecommerce is currently the fastest-growing sector in Vietnam’s digital economy. According to the e-Conomy SEA 2019 report by Google, Temasek, and Bain, Vietnam’s ecommerce segment had a valuation of US$5 billion last year and it is expected to reach US$23 billion by 2025.

Citing a separate industry report, Nexttech also noted that many of Vietnam’s local merchants have begun expanding their online offerings, with 71% of small and medium enterprises saying they’ve adopted new tactics to reach more customers amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Along with the rise of ecommerce in Vietnam, consumers have also been adopting digital payment methods more. Referring to a report from the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Vietnam eCommerce and Digital Economy Agency, Nexttech says that the value of mobile and online transactions in the country has increased by 238%.

“We expect this three-year partnership to deliver a host of electronic payment-related benefits to both buyers and sellers in ecommerce, one of the fastest-expanding pillars of the digital economy,” said Nexttech chairman Nguyen Hoa Binh.

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Since its establishment in 2001, the company has built up an ecosystem of close to 20 platforms and over 10 million customers to help with its market penetration and expansion into Southeast Asia.

In August last year, the Nexttech Group of Technopreneurs launched a US$10 million early-stage startup fund called Next100.