Meet the Vietnamese company that’s helping to unlock the country’s digital transformation

Vietnam has the potential to be the next big thing in the burgeoning Southeast Asian economy. Underlying advantages such as a young, growing urban consumer population have prompted its government to set its sights on becoming a high-income country by 2045 and reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

These goals, however, can only be achieved with effective digital transformation. “Unfortunately, many Vietnamese companies and businesses – especially SMEs – are ill-prepared for digitalization,” says Vu Quang Tung, chief strategy officer of One Mount, a firm that builds and manages an open tech ecosystem that simplifies the process of going digital for consumers and businesses.

Vu Quang Tung, chief strategy officer of One Mount / Photo credit: One Mount

In addition to systemic challenges, Vu cites another problem: a study by the International Data Corporation and Cisco describes the country’s SMEs as “digital indifferent.” This means that they tend to focus on cost-effectiveness instead of investing in digital transformation.

One Mount aims to help the country’s businesses surmount these hurdles via its tech ecosystem, and its work began in the grocery retail and housing sectors – key parts of life for most Vietnamese.

The heart of Vietnam

One Mount was established through strategic investors and partners – including two of Vietnam’s largest conglomerates, Techcombank and Vingroup – in 2019, just months before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The fledgling company was dropped straight into the deep end.

“Naturally, this was a very challenging period, given all of the uncertainty,” says Vu. “However, it was also a situation that enabled us to focus, prioritize, and find conviction in our purpose.”

This prioritization led One Mount to focus its tech efforts on building the infrastructure to support and launch VinShop, a B2B retail and distribution app that connects traditional mom and pop grocery businesses directly with suppliers, and OneHousing, a tech-enabled platform that simplifies the online-to-offline process for for property buyers, sellers, investors, and agents. These apps are both connected to One Mount’s consumer app, VinID, which has one of Vietnam’s largest loyalty platforms.

“One Mount wants to improve the everyday life of Vietnamese people through enabling businesses to provide better products and services,” affirms Vu. Its mission to spearhead digital transformation for consumers, small businesses, and strategic partners will help “empower people and businesses to realize their full potential.”

Digitally transforming independent grocers

With VinShop, the intent is to help grocers – big and small – to scale their business via tech-enabled supply chain and inventory management. Through the app, Vu notes that “many independent grocers are using smartphones for the first time to order goods and have it delivered to their doorstep.”

In many ways, this approach is similar to how Mitra Tokopedia has digitally transformed operations for Indonesia’s mom and pop corner stores, also known as warungs.

In addition, VinShop proved to be a timely solution when the pandemic broke out. “During a period when contactless ways of doing business became essential, we built products for sales agents, shop owners, and supply partners not only to brace for headwinds but also to alter their way of working for the better,” says Vu.

To date, the VinShop app has allowed One Mount to digitally transform over 100,000 independent grocers, enabling them to cut out the middleman and order goods directly from VinShop. The company collaborated with Google Cloud to integrate its solutions, assisting in digitizing and modernizing the FMCG supply chain in Vietnam. Vu says that this has added great value and increased income for all stakeholders involved, from manufacturers, distributors, grocers to end-consumers.

He also points out that these efforts have saved 10% to 15% of the total cost of distributing goods throughout the supply chain. One Mount’s strategic tie-up with Techcombank – one of the largest commercial banks in Vietnam – has also given grocers easy access to financing and working capital loan options within the VinShop app.

Enabling a streamlined home buying and selling process

On the real estate side, OneHousing is a comprehensive ecosystem that offers omni-channel solutions across a combination of data intelligence tools, professional consulting services, financial solutions, and curated property listings interwoven into the traditional offline customer journey.

“In understanding the nature of the customer journey, we found success in building tools for both agents and customers so they can be better informed and equipped in their decision making, ultimately leading to a better experience for all involved,” Vu shares.

Photo credit: One Mount

One Mount also offers value creation via its ability to leverage key partnerships such as the one it has with Techcombank. As a strategic partner, Techcombank provides accreditation that aids OneHousing’s home valuation tool. This, in turn, helps buyers and sellers to value homes accurately and understand the details of financial solutions available to them, allowing them to value a home with confidence before committing to the transaction.

The tie-up is emblematic of One Mount’s belief in an open ecosystem approach, which the company sees as instrumental to giving consumers more options and the ability to find solutions that suit their needs.

One Mount also has partnerships with developers such as Masterise Homes and Vinhomes.

“As a customer-centric organization, our goal is to provide people with the best solutions and services, whether through us or one of our partners,” Vu says. “Closed ecosystems provide more end-to-end control for the firm, but they may not provide consumers with the best solution or service for a given category.”

On the horizon

Looking ahead, One Mount wants to serve 70% of Vietnamese households and to build its ecosystem to connect with and offer digital solutions to more verticals. These are lofty ambitions that will “take a village” to achieve, which explains the emphasis on the open ecosystem approach.

The firm feels that it’s still only scratching the surface in the retail and real estate markets, and it will continue to focus its efforts on innovating for these sectors. Beyond this, the country’s economic potential is enticing, one that can only be fully realized by connecting people with technology.

“As Vietnam arrives on the world stage, there will be new challenges, especially as we approach the uncertain bear market,” Vu points out. “What gives us confidence, however, is something more innate to the people of this country, which is their resilience.”

One Mount is one of Vietnam’s largest technological ecosystems. It creates solutions along the entire value chain, focusing on retail, distribution, real estate, and financial services.

The company aims to build the country’s most trusted ecosystem, empowering all people and businesses to realize their full potential at the intersection of technology and humanity.

Find out more about One Mount on its website.

This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.