A customer uses her MoMo ewallet to pay for a cup of Starbucks coffee. Vietnam is a top markets for the adoption of new technologies. (Photo courtesy of the MoMo) According to the "SYNC Southeast Asia" report on digital consumers inSoutheast Asia in the new stage of development, Vietnam has nearly 80% of thepopulation represented as digital consumers. Moreover, the average contributionof e-commerce to total retail has continued to grow at 15% over the past year,higher than India's 10% and China's 4% growth, with an online-to-total retailshare of 6%.
About three years into the pandemic, research shows that regional consumers areat a new stage of development, prioritising an integrated shopping experiencethat effectively combines online and in-person services.
After the pandemic, 10% of Vietnamese surveyed moved at least one of theirshopping categories from online to direct channels because of the"interface" factor that direct sales channels bring. However, thereare still certain shopping categories that consumers still prefer to choose"closing" online, indicating that online shopping continues to serveas an important channel for digital shoppers in the country. During the'discovery' phase, 84% of Vietnamese shoppers see online as their go-to channelto browse and find items.
According to the report, this is a period when Vietnamese digital consumers usemore platforms than ever before, with the dominance of the e-commerce marketaccounting for 51% of online spending. At the same time, social networksaccount for nearly half of online discoveries, including images at 16%,social media videos at 22% and related tools such as messaging at 9%.
Social media and related tools such as messaging were paramount channels for Vietnam’sdigital shoppers during the consideration period, accounting for 44% of surveyrespondents.
"Consumers' openness to interaction and experimentation has also led tobehavioural change, with 64% of respondents saying they have interacted with abusiness conversation account in the past year. As customers seek moreengagement, the content creation economy also shows many positive signals.
"In Vietnam, the average sales volume related to entertainment, streamingand related products to content creators in the three months before our surveyhas increased 12 times," said Le Khoi, Country Director of Vietnam Marketof Meta, adding: "In the context of digital consumption, Vietnamese usersswitch brands more often and increase the number of platforms they use to finda better value, with 22% of online orders made on various e-commerceplatforms."
He added: "Value is one of the main factors driving this behaviour when'better price' is chosen as the top reason for switching platforms, followed bythe product quality and delivery times. As a result, the number of onlineplatforms Vietnamese consumers use will increase from 8 in 2021 to 16 in 2022.
Last week, in the seminar 'Promoting digital transformation for organisationsand businesses', Nguyen Ba Diep, Co-Founder of MoMo Ewallet, said:"Digital transformation for retail businesses is an inevitabletrend."
Diep added that with more than 31 million customers on MoMo, theyhave solutions to help businesses, especially SMEs, banks, credit institutions,and investment funds, to reach more customers quickly and efficiently.
He said MoMo would continue coordinating with tens of thousands of otherpartners to expand this service ecosystem specifically for retail solutions.
He said in the last four years, it developed theFinance-Insurance service on MoMo with more than 10 million users, includingconsumer credit, accumulated investment and insurance.
The report also shows that thanks to advanced thinking, Vietnam is among thetop markets in adopting future technologies such as fintech and metaverse,alongside Indonesia and the Philippines. Currently, 58% of digital consumers inVietnam have used fintech solutions such as online banking, e-wallets, moneytransfer applications, and omnipotent digital banking.
It also said the use of digital technology in Vietnam is ripe and mainly drivenby functionality and convenience, adding 7 out of 10 digital consumers inthe country used metaverse technology such as cryptocurrencies, augmentedreality, virtual reality, virtual world, and NFT's in 2022. In particular,Vietnam has the highest rate of VR applications among Southeast Asiancountries, with 29%./.
VNA