BACKFor years, Vietnam has quietly powered the global retail engine: manufacturing apparel, footwear and consumer goods for U.S. retailers who value its precision and reliability. Now we’re witnessing a strategic shift: “If retailers trust Vietnam to manufacture, why not to manage?”
With a young, tech-savvy workforce and a rapidly expanding outsourcing ecosystem, the country is redefining how retailers manage global supply chains, customer service, finance operations and more. Recent research projects Vietnam’s business-process-outsourcing market to reach US$808.56 million by 2030.
For your business, this opens access to a region that brings the same production-level discipline you trust on the factory floor into your back-office operations. Let’s explore why Vietnam is emerging as the new hub for retail back-office functions, where your operations can scale, streamline and accelerate into the future.
Table of contents
The evolution of Vietnam’s retail workforce
Over the past decade, Vietnam’s workforce has matured significantly, transitioning from its well-known manufacturing roots into a skilled talent base capable of powering modern retail operations.
1. Skilled talent meets service capability
Vietnam’s workforce has expanded far beyond traditional manufacturing roles. A rising share now offers English proficiency, business qualifications and practical experience in customer support, logistics, finance and digital marketing.
A median age of 33.4 places the country at peak workforce productivity, combining strong learning capacity with digital-native instincts. More than 1.5 million university graduates enter the labor market each year, including fast-growing cohorts in IT and engineering, creating a steady supply for technology-enabled retail operations.
Gen Z is helping to build this momentum. Expected to represent around 30% of the global workforce by 2030, this segment in Vietnam brings global awareness, collaboration skills and confidence with digital tools, accelerating the transition toward service-driven retail capabilities.
For U.S. retailers, the result is a talent pool increasingly equipped to manage specialized retail workflows, supply-chain coordination and omnichannel customer interaction, supporting more advanced and scalable back-office operations.
2. The Southeast Asia shift
Vietnam is increasingly selected over traditional outsourcing destinations such as the Philippines and India, particularly for retail back-office operations. The competitive advantages are grounded in workforce stability, digital readiness and communication effectiveness.
| Factor | Vietnam | Philippines | India |
| Attrition rate | 15.5% – Most stable in the region | 30–40% – Highest in the region | High in the IT sector |
| Digital skills ranking | #54 | #101 | #87 |
| English proficiency | Rank 64 – Moderate | Rank 20 – High | Rank 74 – Low |
Vietnam holds a distinct operational edge in retail back-office work. Attrition at roughly 15%, the lowest among regional competitors, helps sustain workforce continuity and keeps replacement costs down. A #54 global digital-skills ranking reflects strong readiness for automation and advanced workflow tools, while a Rank 64 in English proficiency supports clear communication and consistent process execution.
National investment further strengthens this position. Vietnam’s digital economy is forecast to reach USD 90-200 billion by 2030 (U.S. International Trade Administration), powered by 5G rollout, expanded submarine cable capacity and broad cloud availability, enhancing resilience for distributed global operations.
Together, these factors position Vietnam as a scalable, high-quality service hub for retail back-office functions, equipped to support long-term growth and performance at global standards.
Why U.S. retailers are outsourcing customer service and operations to Vietnam
Vietnam has transformed into one of the world’s most attractive back-office hubs for retail. For U.S. retailers looking to scale, manage costs and maintain service quality, the country offers a unique combination: cost-efficiency paired with rapidly growing operational capability.
1. Cost efficiency aligned with real capability
Salaries in Vietnam typically run 50–55% lower than U.S. equivalents, meaning budgets stretch further, freeing resources for innovation or strategic growth.
For instance, a backend developer may earn around US$46,495/year in Vietnam, compared with US$98,938/year in the U.S. This gap illustrates why Vietnam enables robust teams at scaled budgets.
At the same time, competitive rates come with serious capability. Vietnamese professionals, trained and experienced, deliver customer service, logistics support, returns handling and data operations with consistency and reliability. The affordable cost of living supports sustainable wages, which in turn helps reduce churn and burnout, critical when operations scale or face demand spikes.
2. Time-zone advantage enabling round-the-clock operations
For retailers serving global customers, speed matters. Vietnam’s time difference with the U.S. enables overnight responses, continuous ticket handling, and next-day handovers, giving U.S. teams effective 24/7 support coverage without hiring locally.
This “follow-the-sun” model translates into faster processing of customer queries, returns, logistics updates, which in retail can improve customer satisfaction and reduce overhead on in-market teams.
3. Multilingual skills and cultural alignment
Vietnamese professionals bring more than just cost advantages. With roughly 45% of the population able to communicate in English, and over 70% of workers reporting stronger confidence after just six months of upskilling, the workforce is becoming increasingly aligned with Western business standards.
Vietnam’s outsourcing sector has expanded to support multilingual operations, not only English, but increasingly Asian languages such as Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean or Japanese. For example, more than 50,000 people are currently studying Korean at over 60 universities and colleges in Vietnam, making it the largest Korean-language training population in Asia.
This linguistic diversity, English plus Asian languages, strengthens communication and workflow alignment across markets. It makes Vietnam a compelling hub for regional or global retail brands serving diverse customer bases, and supports smoother coordination across functions like customer service, returns management, or regional operations.
What this looks like in practice
1. Example team structure
A Vietnam-based retail operations team can support the full customer and order lifecycle. A typical structure includes:
- Customer service representatives managing email, chat and phone inquiries
- Data analysts monitoring inventory movement and sales performance
- Finance and accounting talent handling invoicing, reconciliation and billing accuracy
- Digital marketing specialists assisting with ads, product content and CRM execution
- eCommerce operations assistants managing SKUs, order flow and returns resolutions
- Warehousing and distribution coordinators supporting fulfillment tasks and logistics workflows
- Web developers maintaining storefront performance, usability and integrations
- Full-stack developers supporting deeper platform enhancements and system automation
Instead of limiting teams to basic, repetitive tasks, these roles contribute directly to customer experience, operational accuracy and revenue protection. You gain a cohesive support engine that strengthens every stage of modern retail operations.
2. Tools, systems and integration readiness
Vietnam-based teams are increasingly trained on global standard platforms, think Shopify, Zendesk, Salesforce, HubSpot, Excel, Power BI, Google Workspace and comparable tools. This familiarity ensures they plug into an existing workflow almost immediately.
The broader IT and outsourcing sector in Vietnam continues to expand rapidly. According to Statista, the country’s outsourcing market is projected to surpass US$880 million by 2028.
For global retail operations, this means reliable access to teams capable of supporting data-driven, digitally enabled workflows, delivering the same performance as in-house staff, but with greater scalability and cost efficiency.
Common concerns and why they’re outdated
Many companies still hesitate before shifting retail operations overseas. Yet under modern operating standards, common worries about outsourcing to Vietnam are proving increasingly outdated.
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Concern: “Will communication or time zones be a problem?”
That worry is becoming a non-issue. Internet infrastructure in Vietnam now ranks among the world’s best. According to the latest Speedtest Global Index data, Vietnam ranks in the global top 15 for both fixed and mobile broadband speeds.
This translates into solid connectivity for distributed teams: low-latency cloud access, stable video calls, and fast data transfers, enabling real-time collaboration even when working across time zones.
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Concern: “Will quality drop compared to in-house operations?”
Far from a drop, quality often improves when outsourcing is structured with proper onboarding, clear KPIs, and access to motivated talent. That confidence is backed by recent data: Kearney’s 2023 Global Services Location Index (GSLI) ranks Vietnam 7th worldwide among outsourcing destinations – a clear signal that international buyers view its workforce competence, business environment and financial attractiveness as globally competitive.
As Vietnam’s IT/BPO sector shifts toward more advanced service segments, including customer support, data services, and end-to-end retail operations, this ranking demonstrates that outsourcing operations from Vietnam can match or even exceed in-house benchmarks in performance and consistency.
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Concern: “Is this sustainable long-term?”
Yes, and for good reasons. Vietnam combines a stable political climate, ongoing investment in technology infrastructure (including broadband, fiber-optic networks, and data-center readiness), and a young, digitally fluent workforce.
This makes the country well-equipped to support large-scale, multi-year outsourcing partnerships, rather than just short-term cost plays.
By partnering with Vietnam-based teams, your retail back-office can operate with global-class standards, lower overhead, and access to a deep, growing pool of talent. With strong infrastructure and a maturing outsourcing market, Vietnam is a scalable platform for growth.
Why this works with Outsourcing 2.0
Created by Away Digital Teams, Outsourcing 2.0 moves beyond transactional outsourcing. Instead of hiring temporary help for short bursts of work, businesses gain a durable, fully integrated capability. The focus shifts toward sustainable value creation, where cost efficiency enhances growth instead of limiting it.
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Dedicated teams that operate like your own
Full-time Vietnam-based teams plug directly into your workflow, collaborate in real time, and follow your systems and performance standards. They learn your culture, understand your customers, and build operational context that grows stronger each month — something short-term vendors never deliver.
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High-caliber talent with scalable economics
Vietnam continues to expand its digital and business workforce, giving U.S. retailers a strong mix of capability and value. Salaries remain significantly more competitive than in the U.S., allowing your organization to reinvest budget into innovation, expansion, and customer experience, rather than overhead.
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A platform built for reliability and scale
Vietnam’s digital economy is accelerating, supported by strong infrastructure upgrades and the government’s focus on service-sector growth. As connectivity and workforce capabilities continue to rise, so does the long-term stability of operations managed from Vietnam.
Outsourcing 2.0 doesn’t just assign tasks, it builds a capability center that expands with your business. As volumes shift or new retail channels launch, the team adapts in sync, creating operational consistency and lasting performance instead of the churn and fragmentation seen in legacy outsourcing models.
Conclusion
Vietnam has already proved its strength in global manufacturing. Now, its digital and professional talent is powering the operational core of modern retail, enhancing customer service, improving data accuracy, and keeping order flows running efficiently for U.S. brands expanding at speed.
What’s interesting is how U.S. companies pivot from traditional hubs to success in Vietnam once they see the results firsthand. That shift is shaping a new playbook: dedicated teams in Vietnam deliver global-quality performance with the cost efficiency and agility retailers need to stay competitive, creating a foundation for scale in a rapidly changing market.
