What Is Online Business? Key Things to Keep in Mind in 2026

Online business is becoming a growing trend, opening up numerous opportunities for both individuals and businesses. However, for beginners, entering this field is far from simple. The article below will help you clearly understand what online business is, the key considerations, and the essential steps to get started in the right direction.

1. Overview of Online Business

Before starting an online business, it is important to clearly understand what online business is and why it has rapidly expanded in Vietnam in recent years.

1.1. What Is Online Business?

Online business refers to the buying and selling of goods and services via the Internet, where all transactions are conducted on digital platforms without the need for face-to-face interaction. Thanks to its ability to reach a wide customer base, low operating costs, and ease of performance measurement, online business has become a popular trend in the digital era.

1.2. Why Has Online Business Boomed in Vietnam?

Online business in Vietnam has been growing strongly due to the influence of multiple factors. First, the scale of the e-commerce market continues to expand. According to VietnamPlus, Vietnamese consumers spent approximately USD 7.8 billion on online shopping in just the first six months of 2025, indicating that demand for online shopping remains extremely high.

In addition, Internet penetration continues to increase. According to DataReportal, by the end of 2025, Vietnam had around 85.6 million Internet users, accounting for a large proportion of the population. This creates favorable conditions for consumers to easily access online shopping platforms anytime and anywhere, thereby strongly driving the growth of online business.

2. Current Online Business Trends

In the context of rapid e-commerce development, online business in Vietnam is undergoing noticeable changes, from consumer shopping behavior to preferred sales channels. Keeping up with these trends is a crucial foundation for effective and sustainable online business operations.

2.1. Changes in Consumer Shopping Behavior

The development of online business in Vietnam is closely linked to significant changes in consumer shopping behavior. Shoppers increasingly prioritize researching information, reading reviews, and consuming online content before making purchasing decisions-especially with the rise of emotion-driven shopping. These changes show that consumers are not just buying products, but also trust and experiences.

2.2. The Rise of Social Commerce

Social commerce is becoming a dominant trend in online business in Vietnam as consumers grow more accustomed to purchasing directly on social media platforms, where the journey from viewing to trusting to buying happens seamlessly rather than stopping at information search.

Currently, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are the three most popular social commerce platforms. Facebook continues to play an important role with sales models based on fan pages, groups, and livestreams, making it suitable for businesses built around communities and loyal customer bases. Instagram excels in visually driven industries such as fashion, cosmetics, and lifestyle, where visual content and influencers strongly impact purchasing decisions.

Meanwhile, TikTok is emerging as a leading platform thanks to its combination of short-form videos, livestreaming, and an integrated shopping system via TikTok Shop. According to the Digital Report Vietnam 2025 by Clever Group, TikTok has 40.9 million users aged 18 and above, along with high average usage time-giving it a major advantage in driving trend-based purchasing behavior.

The close relationship between entertainment content and consumer behavior allows TikTok to directly influence users’ purchasing decisions. As a result, TikTok is not only a communication channel but also a key direct sales channel, making it especially suitable for deploying online business models in 2026.

3. Six Steps to Effective Online Business on TikTok in 2026

To succeed in online business on TikTok in 2026, sellers need a clear and strategic process. The six steps below will help you build a solid foundation and optimize sales performance from the very beginning.

3.1. Identify Products and Target Customers

To fully leverage the potential of online business on TikTok, sellers need to identify two key factors:

• What products to sell
   

• Who their target customers are
   

Accurately identifying products and target customers helps improve business efficiency. To do so, sellers should answer three questions:

• Who is the target customer?
   

• What content do they usually watch on TikTok?
   

• What motivates them to make a purchase?
   

From this, it can be seen that products suitable for TikTok often have characteristics such as being easy to tell through video, clearly addressing a need, and being easy to review or compare through before-and-after experiences.

3.2. Create a TikTok Account and Register for TikTok Shop

After identifying the product, sellers need to create a TikTok account and register for TikTok Shop in compliance with platform regulations. The account profile should be clearly set up and consistent with the business products to build trust from the outset. Completing TikTok Shop verification is also a prerequisite for opening a store and launching sales activities.

Read more: TikTok Shop – A to Z Guide for Beginners.

3.3. Set Up the Storefront

A well-organized and attractive storefront builds trust, retains customers, and encourages purchasing decisions. To convert viewers into buyers, the storefront should be thoroughly optimized with:

• Clear product names
   

• Realistic images and videos
   

• Benefit-focused descriptions
   

• Transparent pricing and shipping policies
   

A properly set up storefront helps increase conversion rates and reduce operational risks.

3.4. Build Sales Content

Sales content is the core factor determining the effectiveness of online business on TikTok. Instead of only posting product-selling videos, sellers should flexibly combine short videos, experience reviews, problem-solving content, and sales livestreams to build long-term trust with viewers.

3.5. Combine TikTok Shop Affiliate and Advertising

To expand reach, sellers can combine TikTok Shop Affiliate and TikTok Ads. Affiliate marketing allows products to reach new customer segments through KOCs/KOLs, while advertising helps boost high-performing videos. Proper integration of both helps optimize costs and accelerate revenue growth.

3.6. Operations, Customer Care, and Conversion Optimization

After receiving orders, operations and customer service determine long-term sales potential. Sellers must ensure quick responses, accurate order processing, and data tracking to optimize content, advertising, and conversion rates. Effective online business is not just about generating orders but also about retaining customers and continuously improving performance.

4. Top 5 Things to Keep in Mind When Doing Online Business on TikTok

Along with rapid growth opportunities, online business on TikTok also comes with challenges that sellers must understand to avoid risks and optimize long-term performance.

4.1. Intense Competition and Increasing Market Saturation

Many individuals and businesses are now selling on TikTok, especially in popular categories such as cosmetics, fashion, and household goods. This makes it difficult for newcomers to generate orders by simply posting sales videos or copying others’ content. Beginners should start with content-friendly products, focus on authentic experiences, and choose niche segments to reduce competition.

4.2. Rising Selling Costs and Platform Fees

TikTok Shop initially attracted sellers with low fees and simple processes. However, the platform has recently increased fees and tightened operating conditions, making online business costs less manageable than before.

TikTok Shop has increased the service fee for the Shipping Fee Refund (SFR) program, effective from December 31, 2025. Instead of a fixed fee of 1,620 VND per order, the SFR fee now ranges from 1,620 VND to 10,738 VND per order depending on timing and seller performance. This change has caused many shops to see shrinking profit margins, or even losses, despite generating revenue.

Read more: TikTok Shop unexpectedly increases a certain fee by nearly seven times.

4.3. Constantly Changing and Unpredictable TikTok Algorithm

One major risk of online business on TikTok is the continuously changing algorithm. According to Napolify’s analysis, TikTok implemented several major changes to its FYP algorithm in the first half of 2025, focusing on reducing distribution of low-quality content and prioritizing videos that retain viewers better. As a result, many previously effective videos can experience a sharp drop in reach over a short period.

4.4. Strict Content Moderation and Store Management Policies

In recent years, TikTok has continuously updated its content moderation and store management policies, causing many sales channels to experience reduced distribution or limited visibility despite posting consistently. Views and orders depend not only on posting frequency but also on compliance with platform policies.

According to Người Lao Động Newspaper, TikTok confirmed the application of stricter moderation criteria for repetitive advertising content, misleading information, or content that violates community standards, significantly affecting many sellers’ reach.

4.5. Rising Fraud Risks and AI Scams

Along with the rapid growth of online business on TikTok, risks related to commercial fraud and AI-powered scams are increasing. According to Business Insider, increasingly powerful AI tools have made fraud on e-commerce platforms more sophisticated, such as generating fake content, cloning product images, or misleading users with fake reviews.

5. Conclusion

Online business continues to grow strongly and has become a leading trend in modern commerce. Among various platforms, TikTok Shop stands out as a representative sales channel thanks to its ability to combine content, entertainment, and shopping. With the knowledge shared in this article, you can confidently begin and break through in your journey of doing online business on TikTok.

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