Vietnam uses TikTok Shop for export sales

Economically, the initiative matters because Vietnam’s online export base is still tiny relative to its trade footprint. The country’s online export value was about $2 billion in 2025, or just 0.4% of its roughly $475 billion in total exports. That leaves ample room for growth if e-commerce can become a meaningful distribution layer alongside traditional wholesale and marketplace channels such as Amazon, Shopee and Alibaba.

The policy logic is straightforward. The U.S. offers scale, high purchasing power and a large TikTok user base — more than 200 million people, according to the data cited by the agency — while China offers proximity, fast logistics and a trade framework that has brought more than 98% of tariff lines to zero. For Vietnamese exporters, that combination could lower the cost of testing products abroad, shorten inventory cycles and reduce dependence on large importers.

For investors, the story is less about immediate revenue and more about who captures the transaction layer of fast-growing cross-border trade. TikTok Shop gains as a discovery-and-conversion channel; logistics and fulfillment providers benefit if order volumes rise; and Vietnamese consumer brands get a cheaper route to international demand. The risk is that the channel can also compress margins if sellers have to spend heavily on content, discounts and local-market compliance to win visibility.

Early trial cases suggest the model can work, but only with operational discipline. Vifon said its TikTok Shop U.S. storefront, opened in May, sold more than 25,700 packs of instant noodles, vermicelli and pho products. Fado reported 8,000 orders from China, while MVOT said it sold more than 6,000 frozen durians, or about 15 tons, through online channels after investing in packaging, provenance disclosure and GACC quality controls.

That is the core narrative: Vietnam is trying to turn social commerce into an export infrastructure. The upside is broader market access for consumer goods, especially food, homeware and personal care products. The bear case is that scaling beyond pilot sales will require digital skills, regulatory readiness, local branding and logistics execution that many smaller firms still lack.

The program’s longer-term ambition is notable. By 2028, Vietnam wants to expand training to 2,000 companies and build a cohort capable of creating content, working with creators, running storefronts and building brands in local markets. If it succeeds, TikTok Shop could become one of the more important new conduits for Vietnam’s exports. If it stalls, the initiative will mostly underline how hard it is to turn online traffic into durable cross-border trade.