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A latest VCCI survey of household businesses, conducted with 1,001 households across 34 provinces and cities, indicates that most firms plan to maintain or reduce activity levels, while the share intending to expand or switch models remains limited. The findings also point to weak business health, thin profit margins, and compliance capacity constraints amid increasingly complex regulations.
When asked about plans for the next period, only 1.8% of household businesses said they plan to expand their activities. The majority, 60.8%, intend to maintain their current scale, while 33% expect to shrink. A further 4.4% consider dissolution.
On transformation plans, 15.6% of households said they intend to convert to a corporation within the next two years, while 84.4% reported having no such plans.
The survey found that 64.69% of household businesses are in urban areas and 35.31% are in rural areas. By region, the Southeast accounted for the largest share at 36.7%, followed by the Red River Delta at 21.1% and the Mekong Delta at 17%.
Most household businesses have relatively long operating histories: 66.26% have operated for more than 5 years, and 31.11% for more than 10 years. In terms of scale, 58.75% employ 2–5 workers, while only 1.92% have more than 10 workers.
The most common annual revenue range is 500 million to 3 billion VND, representing 51.41% of surveyed households.
The survey reports that most household businesses operate with thin profit margins. Specifically, 73.7% report low profits, 12.9% break even, 9.3% incur slight losses, and 2.2% incur heavy losses. The observed average profit margin is about 1.9%.
By sector, 90.1% of household businesses operate in retail, while 5.3% are in food service. The customer base is primarily individuals (72%), while only 2.7% serve mostly enterprises and 25.3% serve a mixed client base.
VCCI notes that beyond demand or input costs, household businesses face bottlenecks related to regulatory complexity and limited compliance capabilities for micro and small units. Legal and tax/accounting tasks are identified as major obstacles. The survey also highlights a broad decline in revenue and customer numbers, alongside a defensive operating stance.
VCCI recommends prioritizing the simplification of tax, accounting and electronic invoicing regulations to better match household businesses’ capacity, alongside developing low-cost compliance tools that are easy to use and strengthening direct local support.
It also calls for policy support to clearly define priority groups, including households that rely entirely on business as their livelihood, micro and vulnerable groups, and those that need to convert to larger-scale enterprises.
For transformation policy, VCCI suggests reducing actual conversion costs through conditional financial support packages in the early stage, simplifying administrative procedures after conversion, and building a pathway of compliance obligations.
VCCI frames household businesses as an important pillar of family economies and social welfare. As a major source of income for many households, the sector is described as a foundation of the local economy and an important element of social security.
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