2026.07.04
Sendo Farm, the fresh food e-commerce service operated by a subsidiary of Vietnamese IT giant FPT, will stop service on July 10, 2026. Operator Sen Đỏ cited "optimizing resources and focusing on core business" as the reason. Sendo, which once competed with Shopee and Lazada as a multi-category e-commerce player, withdrew from general e-commerce in April 2025 and sought a way forward by specializing in fresh food, but is now closing that last stronghold as well. As local players continue to exit, Vietnamese e-commerce has effectively consolidated into a two-horse race between Shopee and TikTok Shop. For Japanese companies already in the market or considering entry, the practical decision of which platform to bet their sales channel on is now unavoidable.
Sen Đỏ announced it will halt its fresh food, groceries, and daily goods platform "Sendo Farm" as of July 10, 2026. From July 1 to 9, it will run promotions to clear inventory before shutting down the business. To protect users, the remaining balance of membership packages will be refunded, wallet balances can be used until July 9, and after that customers can request a refund to their bank account.
Sendo Farm has run a reservation-based model of "buy today, receive tomorrow" (nay mua – mai nhận). Products are sorted overnight at a central warehouse and delivered to nearby pickup points such as neighborhood convenience stores, pharmacies, and households. Designed to spread fresh food into local communities at low cost, it has centered its operations on Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This shutdown marks Sendo's "second withdrawal" from multi-category e-commerce.
Sendo launched in 2012, growing with FPT's backing as a pioneer of Vietnamese e-commerce. At one point, between 2012 and 2021, it had a cumulative 12.5 million customers. However, in the war of attrition with foreign-backed Shopee, Southeast Asia's Lazada, Alibaba-affiliated Tiki, and the fast-rising latecomer TikTok Shop, its share fell below 1%, and it closed its general marketplace on April 15, 2025.
Its subsequent restart was to specialize in fresh food e-commerce as "Sendo Farm." Built on the business that launched its first warehouse in Ho Chi Minh City at the end of 2021 during the pandemic, the aim was to redirect resources that could no longer compete in general e-commerce toward online purchasing of food and daily goods, an area with greater growth potential. But even in fresh food, it faced other strong rivals on a different axis — store-based chains such as Bach Hoa Xanh and WinMart, and instant delivery players such as GrabFood and ShopeeFood — making it difficult to survive on a single platform alone. This shutdown can be read as the surfacing of that difficulty.
Vietnam's e-commerce battlefield has now narrowed to almost just two companies. According to research firm Metric, Shopee leads with about 56%, closely followed by TikTok Shop at about 42%, with the two together accounting for roughly 97% of the market. TikTok Shop's GMV surged 148% year on year in the first half of 2025, rapidly closing the gap with the leader. Local players such as Sendo and Tiki have effectively been pushed into niche areas outside these two companies.
| Metric | Value | Source / basis |
|---|---|---|
| Shopee's estimated share | About 56% | Metric (Vietnam) |
| TikTok Shop's estimated share | About 42% | Metric, the two companies combined about 97% |
| TikTok Shop's GMV growth | +148% year on year | First half of 2025, Vietnam |
| Sendo's withdrawal from general e-commerce | April 15, 2025 | Background: share fell below 1% |
| Sendo Farm shutdown date | July 10, 2026 | Sen Đỏ announcement |
The market itself is not shrinking. On the contrary, consumption across the four major platforms has been growing by about USD 100 million a month on average, continuing to set new highs through all of 2025. In other words, the correct way to read this is not "the withdrawal happened because the market is small," but as a structural shift in which "concentration into two companies has advanced further within an expanding market."
Among people in the local e-commerce industry, opinions are split between finding this shutdown "surprising" and viewing it as "only a matter of time." The view is that while potential demand for fresh food e-commerce is large, the ongoing investment burden of cold chain and last-mile delivery is heavy, making it easy for a single platform to end up in a war of attrition.
Among sellers, there are renewed voices recognizing the risk of depending on a single sales channel. Because each withdrawal forces a transfer of inventory, credit, and customer data, the practical argument for spreading one's footing across multiple channels is being made again. On the consumer side, there are also voices of regret that a model for buying fresh food at a nearby pickup point is disappearing. Overall, the tone leans toward viewing Sendo's decision not as a "failure" but as part of "selection and concentration."
The action Japanese companies should take at this juncture is clear: if setting up an online sales channel in Vietnam, redesign it around the two-brand premise of Shopee and TikTok Shop. It's fair to say that the era of betting the main axis of a sales channel on a third or fourth local player has, for now, come to an end.
In concrete terms, first sort channels by how a company's own products sell. Staple products bought by name or products that involve comparison-shopping suit Shopee, where search and reviews carry weight. New brands whose value is best conveyed through video, or products bought on impulse, do well on TikTok Shop, which runs on live streaming and short-form video. The trend of beauty and food products growing via live commerce across Vietnamese e-commerce as a whole The reality of an e-commerce market that surged 47% in a quarter also shows up here, and the combination Japanese food and cosmetics brands should test first is a two-pronged approach: "Shopee = stable sales channel / TikTok Shop = new customer acquisition."
Next, decide how to hold inventory and data in a way that accounts for withdrawal risk. A platform shutdown means, for a seller, losing a place for inventory and a break in the customer list. This time too, Sendo Farm had to handle refunds of membership balances. If entering under one's own brand, accumulating order and customer data on the company's own side as well, and building a structure that can move to another channel at any time from the start, is the way to prepare for the next round of consolidation.
Concentration into two dominant players also comes with the side effect of rising listing costs. TikTok Shop began raising fees in stages from April 2026, and Shopee followed suit. The more the platforms become an oligopoly, the harder it becomes for sellers to resist such changes in terms. The move to raise fees is a factor that directly affects the profit plans of companies entering the market.
In addition, Vietnam's new e-commerce and advertising rules, which are being rolled out through 2026, are increasing the compliance burden on both operations and promotion — covering seller verification, algorithm disclosure, and the legal status of KOLs/KOCs. The new e-commerce law taking effect in July means companies entering the market need to firm up internal rules on verification, labeling, and influencer engagement at the same time as choosing a platform.
As a related development, TikTok Shop's entry into payments and finance also deserves close attention. As the two dominant players each move to enclose logistics and payments as well, Japanese companies are being pressed to make decisions at the level of "which ecosystem to join."
The shutdown of Sendo Farm is a milestone showing that Vietnamese e-commerce has passed through a phase of consolidation and moved into an oligopoly of two players. Precisely because the market keeps expanding, the weight carried by the surviving platforms is growing. What Japanese companies considering entry or expansion should do now comes down to three things: (1) start test sales on Shopee and TikTok Shop in small lots and confirm the fit of their own products with numbers, (2) accumulate customer and order data on their own side too as a hedge against withdrawal risk, and (3) redraw profit-and-loss plans that factor in fees and the costs of the new e-commerce law. Designing platform choice not as "pick one" but as "a division of roles premised on the two dominant players" is the starting point for competing in Vietnamese e-commerce over the next few years.
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