One way to read this is that it might reflect an effort to pre-empt more burdensome government regulation as scrutiny of Vietnam’s increasingly concentrated e-commerce market grows.
Shopee has said that it will postpone the implementation of a new fee program in Vietnam, and after the National Competition Commission (NCC) requested the company review the program, Dau Tu Kien Thuc has reported.
The NCC, an extension of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said it had reviewed the new fees, specifically a Display Maintenance Program (DMP), which would have automatically deducted a percentage of sellers’ revenue for advertising, after receiving complaints from store operators.
Local reporting has not detailed the findings of the commission but says that it asked Shopee to reconsider the DMP. Days later, Shopee announced the aforementioned rollback.
This speaks to the ongoing friction between the NCC and Shopee.
Last month, the commission fined the company VND200 million (US$7,590) over misleading free shipping promotions linked to an August 2025 campaign.
The regulator said slogans including “Free Shipping for All Orders” did not fully disclose the conditions and exclusions adequately, though local reporting does not specify exactly what it failed to disclose and how this may have impacted shoppers.
Notably, this friction is becoming more pronounced as competition in the sector diminishes.
Back in January, it was reported that Shopee was the number one online marketplace in Vietnam with 56 percent of the market, followed by TikTok Shop with a 41 percent market share, according to a report from VinVentures.
The remaining three percent belonged to Lazada, with homegrown e-commerce app Tiki continuing to shed market share, with revenue falling about 80 percent in 2025 despite spending an estimated US$670 million on expanding its operations.
All of that is to say, with Shopee and TikTok Shop accounting for an estimated 97 percent of marketplace sales, Vietnam’s e-commerce sector increasingly resembles a duopoly.
While the two platforms continue to compete for consumers, merchants have far fewer alternatives than they used to, increasing the pressure on regulators to intervene.
Shopee’s U-turn, in this context, might reflect an effort to pre-empt more burdensome government regulation as scrutiny of Vietnam’s increasingly concentrated e-commerce market grows.