EntrepreneurStrategistMarketer

Southeast Asian business, first hand

I do not advise from a distance: we ship, clear customs and sell here ourselves. 24 years in business, based in Ho Chi Minh City since 2022, building companies in Vietnam with my own team.

PhD in Economics · Russian Quality Award holder · Federal trainer at the REC Export School · founder of VietSmart Group and BoxPort

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Дмитрий Васенин, основатель VietSmart Group
24+years in business
84market categories tracked daily
3own companies in Vietnam
Brands we work with

Brands we took to the Vietnamese market.

Working with me

Entering the Vietnamese market: three ways to work with me directly

This is the work I do myself. When you need a team to execute, VietSmart Group is below.

Private consultation

A working session on your case

Your task, my hands-on experience: entry strategy, how business actually works in Vietnam, negotiating with Vietnamese partners, vetting counterparties. You leave with an action plan, not general talk.

2 hours · call or meeting in Ho Chi Minh City500 $
Analysis with a verdict

An answer on your product

You send a product link, in 48 hours you get a PDF with a straight verdict: GO, CAUTION or NO-GO. Category, competitors, prices, unit economics. Calculated on our own data.

Express from $69 · pair $149full $499
Talks

Webinars and conferences

Vietnamese market and niches, Southeast Asian e-commerce, how Vietnamese partners make decisions and how to negotiate with them. Federal trainer at the REC Export School: the programme is rebuilt for every audience. I do not charge a fee for speaking.

Talk · seminar · training modulefree
Questions

Frequently asked

Where do I start if I am only considering Vietnam?

With a free snapshot of your category: message me on Telegram saying what you make, and you get the numbers and three competitors.

How is this different from consulting?

We are operators: we ship, clear customs and sell ourselves. The advice is backed by our own companies and warehouses in Vietnam.

What does it cost to test a niche?

The snapshot is free, express reports start at $69, a full unit economics model is $499, verdict in 48 hours. A two-hour private consultation is $500, speaking is free of charge.

What if the answer is do not enter?

I will say so plainly and show the maths. Walking away saves more than a failed launch: roughly a third of verdicts are negative.

How do I invite you to speak?

Send the topic, the format and the audience. The programme is built around the listeners, from ministry programmes to industry conferences.

Do you only work with Vietnam?

Vietnam is the base. Across Southeast Asia we go wider: Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia through a partner network.

Data, not opinions

Vietnamese market data is refreshed every morning

84 categories, three platforms, collected daily. When you ask about your niche, the answer is already in the database.

Request a category snapshot
$11.05 bnVietnamese marketplace turnover, first half of 2026
+44%year-on-year growth
49% / 47%Shopee and TikTok Shop shares, VietSmart estimate
48 hfrom a product link to a GO or NO-GO verdict

VietSmart estimate based on platform data, first half of 2026. Method and full figures: the half-year report digest

Calculator

Estimate the economics in 30 seconds

Category, price and cost. It gives a rough margin estimate on VietSmart benchmarks. The exact calculation for your shipment comes with the full report.

Full calculation with logistics and duties: $499
Platform fee−$1.92
Logistics and fulfilment−$0.96
Cost price−$4.00
Left per unit$5.12 (43%)

Healthy headroom: at this margin there is room for ads and discounts. This is a rough estimate: the platform fee is a category average, import duties and shipping to Vietnam are not included.

How it runs

How entering the Vietnamese market works

The sequence is the same for everyone: from the first request to sales on the platforms. Every step ends with a document, not a promise.

  1. 01 Request and free snapshot

    You name the product. Back come category figures from the Vietnamese platforms and three competitors. Takes a day, costs nothing.

    Result: you know whether there is anything to discuss
  2. 02 Analysis with a verdict

    A full category breakdown and unit economics on your cost price, including platform fees, logistics and duties. The verdict is direct: GO, CAUTION or NO-GO.

    Result: a PDF with the maths in 48 hours
  3. 03 Entry plan

    What to register, which documents and certificates are needed, which products to ship first, through which logistics and at what shelf price.

    Result: a roadmap with stages and budget
  4. 04 Execution on the ground

    Company, certification, warehouse, shops on Shopee and TikTok Shop, live streams and advertising. This is the VietSmart Group team working in Vietnam, not advice from another country.

    Result: sales and monthly reporting
Free

Free materials on Vietnamese marketplaces

The materials are sent by the @VietSmartGifts_bot. One tap and the PDF arrives in Telegram. The list grows with every new issue.

PDF · 14 pages

Vietnamese marketplaces: first half of 2026

Market size, platform shares, categories, price segments and ten recommendations for sellers.

Get it from the bot
PDF · monthly

Top 20 products of August 2026

The best selling Shopee listings and TikTok Shop leaders: prices, units, revenue.

Get it from the bot
In preparation: TikTok Shop: shops and videos, August 2026 · Breakouts of August 2026: products that grew tenfold · Vietnam sales calendar: September to December 2026 · Vietnam price map: August 2026
One condition: materials are sent to subscribers of the Business and Marketplaces in Vietnam channel. Each material is sent once.
Verifiable

How this is backed up

Instead of testimonials, things you can open and check yourself: publications, invitations from institutions and our own infrastructure in Vietnam.

Publications
Seven pieces in business and trade media since 2023: New Retail, Oborot.ru, Tinkoff Journal, RB.RU, vc.ru. See the list with links
Talks
Fourteen venues across seven countries: Ministry of Economic Development and VAVT programmes, the Moscow Export Centre, forums in Tashkent, at Issyk-Kul and in Guangzhou. See the list and photos
Training exporters
Federal trainer at the Export School of the Russian Export Centre, webinars for its audience. From 2024 to 2026 served as the Moscow Export Centre ambassador in Vietnam.
Own infrastructure
Vietnamese legal entities, warehouses and fulfilment in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, seller accounts on Shopee and TikTok Shop. We sell our own goods, not only other people's.
Own data
Daily collection across 84 categories on three platforms since 2024. The reports and the free materials.
Background
PhD in Economics, Russian Quality Award holder, entrepreneur since 2001, in Vietnam since 2022.
Press

Publications on Vietnam and Southeast Asia

Columns, interviews and podcasts in business and trade media. Every line links to the publication.

Video

Streams and podcasts on doing business in Vietnam

My own YouTube channel plus episodes with colleagues: logistics, marketplaces, contract manufacturing.

Talks

Talks on entering the Vietnamese market

Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Russia: from ministry programmes to industry forums.

Practical and organisational aspects of doing business in VietnamMinistry of Economic Development and VAVT, Vietnam track2026
Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand: reading the market and finding your nicheMoscow Export Centre webinar2026
You don't need Vietnam. Or do you? A look at the dataMPStats webinar2026
Opening of the Made in Moscow standVietfood & Beverage, Ho Chi Minh City2025
10 more talks and events
Marketplaces as the new social networksRussian Retail Week, Moscow2025
Thinking like a brand owner, not a sellerSobranka forum, Moscow2025
What matters when entering Southeast Asian marketplacesBali sellers' breakfast, Eden Seminyak2025
Distribution on Vietnamese and Southeast Asian marketplacesSellers' breakfast, Phuket2025
Business with China and VietnamCanton Economic Forum, Guangzhou2025
Life, work and business in Vietnam: myths and realityEconomics faculty, lecture to students2025
Marketing and sales on marketplacesInternational Sellers Forum, Tashkent2025
Working with Vietnamese marketplacesSELLERS FORUM E-COM KG, Issyk-Kul2024
Entering Southeast Asian marketplacesSELLERS FORUM, Moscow2024
Business meeting Saint Petersburg and Ho Chi Minh CitySaigon Business Club, Ho Chi Minh City2023
SELLERS FORUM E-COM KG 2024, Иссык-Куль
KyrgyzstanSELLERS FORUM E-COM KG 2024, Issyk-KulForum speaker, Korumdu village, 26-28 July 2024
Международный форум селлеров, Ташкент
UzbekistanInternational Sellers Forum, TashkentYouth Palace, February 2025
Дмитрий Васенин выступает на Кантонском экономическом форуме
ChinaCanton Economic Forum, GuangzhouSpeaker at the “Business with China” conference, October 2025
Бизнес-завтрак селлеров, Пхукет
ThailandSellers' breakfast, PhuketDistribution on Southeast Asian marketplaces, April 2025
Бизнес-завтрак селлеров Бали, Eden Seminyak
IndonesiaBali sellers' breakfast, Eden SeminyakWhat matters when entering Southeast Asian marketplaces, 30 July 2025
Бизнес-встреча «Санкт-Петербург - Хошимин»
VietnamBusiness meeting Saint Petersburg and Ho Chi Minh CityCity government and business delegation, Saigon Business Club, December 2023
Дмитрий Васенин на экспертной сессии Недели российского ритейла
RussiaRussian Retail Week, MoscowExpert session “Marketplaces as the new social networks”, June 2025
Invite me to speak
Projects

Three companies of my own

I only advise on what I do myself. That is the difference from desk consulting.

Founder

VietSmart Group

Southeast Asian market analysis and turnkey brand entry: our own database, reports and a team in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

viet-smart.com
Founder

BoxPort

International trade infrastructure: bonded warehouses and re-export. Through Vietnam to the world.

CÔNG TY TNHH BOXPORT
Author

@BusinessInViet

A channel on business and marketplaces in Vietnam: from the operations floor, no borrowed cases.

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Projects

What we did for brands in Vietnam

No figures and no internal detail: only the character of the work that went from start to shelf.

BrandFreeHousehold chemicals

Launching the brand in Vietnam from zero: registration, import paperwork, shops on Shopee and TikTok Shop, official start of sales.

RESANTATools and equipment

Bringing equipment onto Vietnamese platforms and working with seasonal demand: in the rainy season pumps sell out, and the warehouse and listings are prepared for it in advance.

SemilyFast moving consumer goods

Shopee shop registration, the first fully official air shipment with no grey schemes, and a reworked range built around weight and logistics.

MOINHomeware

Bringing samples into a Vietnamese trade fair under our own legal entity and taking a European brand onto the local market.

Brands are named with their consent. Project figures and internal arrangements stay off this site: they belong to the partners.

Команда VietSmart на своём стенде в Хошимине
Our stand at Vietfood & Beverage, Ho Chi Minh City, August 2026
About me and the team

Behind every I on this site there is a we: the VietSmart Group team in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

Legal entities and law, certification, logistics and warehouses, marketing and influencers, data analysis: every project is run by people on the ground in Vietnam. My part is strategy, negotiation and responsibility for the outcome. PhD in Economics, Russian Quality Award holder, federal trainer at the REC Export School. Partner at VietSmart: Giang.

24+years in business
15+specialists on the team
2cities: Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi
50+launches and projects
First step

A free snapshot of your category

What you make and where you are looking. Back come category figures from the Vietnamese marketplaces and three of your competitors.

You get an answer the same day. Your details go nowhere else.

Tell me about your task

Market, partners, negotiations or a talk: write a couple of lines. If it is not my kind of task, I will say so and point you to whose it is.

Get a free snapshot Message me on Telegram
vasenin.asia Dmitrii Vasenin · VietSmart Group · Ho Chi Minh City

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