Vietnam's postal and delivery market has exploded with an average annual growth rate of 23% over the past 5 years. However, this growth momentum showed signs of slowing down in 2023, with revenue increasing by only 9.3% compared to 2022, reaching VND 58,900 billion.
The robust growth of e-commerce (EC) is the main driver behind developing the domestic postal and express industry, especially B2C delivery services. The high demand for online shopping has led to a surge in the volume of mail items serving the EC segment specifically. In particular, revenue from package and parcel services for e-commerce increased by more than 1.5 times compared to traditional postal services, contributing 64% of total revenue and accounting for up to 75% of total mail volume in 2023.
The potential of the express and parcel market has opened up opportunities for many domestic and foreign businesses to enter the market. However, it has also intensified the fierce competition for market share among industry players in recent years. Currently, there are more than 700 postal businesses (both traditional and technology-based) in the entire industry. Among these, the Top 11 domestic express delivery companies (excluding the international express delivery segment) account for 90.5% of the market share; the remaining 9.5% market share is divided among over 690 other smaller businesses. Even the market share of the top companies is constantly fluctuating.
Since 2022, Viettel Post has surged to the top of the industry, and according to Vietdata estimates, Viettel Post's market share continued to increase to 17.2% in 2023. Shopee Express had swiftly caught up with the "big players", surpassed Vietnam Post in 2023 and held a 15.7% market share, securing the second position. GHTK maintained the third position with a 14.5% market share, but its growth rate has slowed down somewhat. J&T Express and GHN made strong breakthroughs, continuously narrowing the gap with their rivals, reaching 10.6% and 7.91% market share in 2023, respectively. The group of traditional postal companies such as Vietnam Post and EMS faced difficulties in maintaining their market share, only holding 13.8% (ranked 4rd) and 3.05% market share, respectively, due to fierce competition from new competitors. The remaining pie is made up of small courier companies (Ninja Van, BEST Express, Nhat Tin Express, 247Express...), and other courier units belonging to e-commerce platforms (TikiNOW, Sendo Express, Lazada Express...).
Besides price competition, investment in logistics infrastructure, service digitization, and delivery vehicle technology upgrades are key factors for players in the industry to maintain and/or enhance their competitive advantage.
Vietnam Post (VNPost)
“Slowness in grasping market trends, delays in deploying technology applications, and a lack of high-quality human resources in logistics, service businesses, and digital products,...” are the factors that Vietnam Post - a unit that was once a "big brother" dominating the Vietnamese postal industry with the advantage of a state-owned enterprise - is gradually losing market share in recent years. These were the points pointed out by the enterprise itself in its business performance evaluation report.
Specifically, Vietnam Post's postal and delivery service revenue has been continuously decreasing in recent years and is estimated to reach only VND 8,100 billion in 2023 (out of the total revenue of the parent company of VND 14,400 billion). Accordingly, Vietnam Post's market share of postal and delivery service revenue decreased from 20.36% (2021) to 13.8% (2023).
Viettel Post
Viettel Post was also once a member of the State Corporation, but in contrast to Vietnam Post's "gray" picture, Viettel Post has grown strongly after equitization. Thanks to flexibility, a good grasp of market trends, creative strategies, an expanding supply chain, strong cooperation with B2B customers, and narrowing the retail business segment, Viettel Post optimized resources and increased its market share to the leading position in the industry.
In 2023, Viettel Post recorded several bright spots in its business operations. Despite a 9.3% decrease in consolidated revenue compared to the previous period, service revenue (mainly postal and delivery) increased by 12.1% to VND 10,140 billion. Accordingly, Viettel Post's postal market share increased from 16% (2021) to 17.2% (2023).
SPX Express (Shopee Express)
Shopee Express, a courier service provider managed by the e-commerce platform Shopee, is a “latecomer” to the market compared to many other express delivery brands, however, it has achieved impressive growth rates. Established in 2020, Shopee Express has already captured 15.65% of the total market share (up from 7.84% in 2021), with revenue in 2023 reaching nearly VND 9,300 billion, an increase of 12.9% compared to the previous year. It has quickly risen to the second position in the market (behind only Viettel Post).
On August 1, 2023, Shopee Express officially changed its name to SPX Express and now has a total of 770 service points nationwide, while also cooperating in delivery for nearly 130 units outside of Shopee's ecosystem.
Giao hang tiet kiem (GHTK)
Founded in 2013, Giao hang Tiet Kiem (GHTK) is another prominent name, currently holding the third-largest market share in the Vietnam express delivery market. Notably, GHTK leads the market share in the e-commerce delivery segment (eLogistics); specializing in providing last-mile delivery and cash-on-delivery services to online stores and businesses.
GHTK's strengths lie in its fast speed, competitive pricing, and, above all, its flexible service mindset built on a technological foundation. Additionally, the brand has a strong presence in 63 provincial and municipal centers nationwide with a scale of over 1,000 fulfillment centers and 550 branches.
Despite generating around VND 8,500 billion and hundreds of billions of dong in profit each year, GHTK has also faced several challenges in maintaining its growth momentum and market share. In 2023, although revenue only decreased slightly by 1.3% compared to the previous year, the company's market share has dropped from 16% (2022) to 14.5%.
J&T Express
J&T Express entered the market as the "latecomer" compared to other "big players" in the industry (officially operating since 2018). However, with the advantage of being a foreign-invested company with extensive experience and market share in the delivery sector in other countries, J&T Express has continuously invested in technology and infrastructure, expanded its network, and rapidly increased its market share in Vietnam.
2023 marked a remarkable leap forward for J&T Express, as it recorded a 51.6% year-on-year revenue surge to over VND 6,000 billion. Fueled by this robust growth, J&T Express captured an impressive 10.63% market share. Notably, this also marked the company's first year of positive after-tax profit since entering the Vietnamese market.
Giao hang nhanh (GHN)
Giao Hang Nhanh (GHN) stands as another prominent brand among the Top6 players in Vietnam's postal and delivery market. Its strategic expansion of post office networks to over 900 locations nationwide, coupled with system upgrades, has laid a solid foundation for GHN's remarkable growth.
GHN is one of the few businesses that has experienced robust and consistent revenue growth since the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, its revenue surged by 26%, 48%, and 28.5% in 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively, compared to the previous year. Consequently, GHN's market share has gradually surpassed that of EMS (a member of Vietnam Post specializing in express delivery and formerly a Top6 player in the courier market in 2021). Currently, GHN holds a 7.91% market share (up from 5.44% in 2021).
In addition, the companies in the Top7-11 (including EMS, Ninja Van, BEST Express, 247Express, and Nhất Tín Express) have a significantly smaller revenue scale compared to the Top6 mentioned above. The annual revenue of each of these companies ranges from VND 700 billion to VND 1,800 billion, and all of them experienced a decline in 2023. The total market share of this group is estimated at around 10.8%. Specifically,
In the face of market fluctuations, EMS recorded a 19.6% decline in sales revenue and service provision during 2021-2023, equivalent to VND 438 billion. EMS's market share also decreased from 5.5% in 2021 to 3.05% in 2023. However, effective cost control efforts and business optimization have helped EMS achieve positive profit margin results, with an increase from 3.2% to 3.6%.
Ninja Van and BEST Express, are foreign-invested companies specializing in e-commerce and B2B customers, and officially entered the Vietnamese market in March 2018 and 2019, respectively. However, the growth rate of these two companies has been relatively slower than J&T Express, and their accumulated losses have continued to increase year after year.
Nhat Tin Express, with a background in logistics, entered the courier market in 2020. Backed by Mekong Capital's MEF III Fund, Nhat Tin Express once set ambitious goals, but is showing signs of faltering in the face of fierce market competition. Nhat Tin Express reached over VND 1,000 billion in revenue in 2022, but its growth momentum has stalled in 2023 with revenue declining by 12.5% to around VND 900 billion compared to the same period last year. Due to the initial investment phase in expanding the network for courier services, the company has continuously recorded losses in the past three years.
247Express has recorded steady revenue growth in recent years, reaching VND 700 billion in 2023. However, its after-tax profit is quite modest and shows a downward trend.
Source: Vietdata's 2023 Express Delivery Market Report