|
Household consumption rises by 3.3% in December: Survey
A survey on household consumption, conducted by local newspaper Saigon tiep thi in December 2008, showed that the spending of HCM City consumers increased a little in the month, with a modest increase of 3.3% over November. The most noteworthy thing is that consumers now tend to use domestically made products instead of import products.
More spending on meals, less on drinks
Though December 2008 was considered part of the ‘Tet season,’ the household consumption only saw a little increase. With the budgets unchanged in comparison with other months, consumers have to thoroughly consider their demands. If consumers spent more on some product items, they had to cut spending on other products.
The survey showed that spending on food increased in the last month, especially on processed food, which rose by 6.1% and has been increasing in the last three months. Meanwhile, the spending on wine and brewery has been decreasing continuously in the last three months.
Domestic products prioritized
The surveys of the last three months pointed out that the increase of the tendency to choose domestic products instead of imports which should be seen as good news in the current period.
Regarding the market share proportions of domestic and import products, the survey pointed out that the figure for domestic products was 75.8% in October and it rose to 81.4% in December, which represented an increase by 5.6%.
The change in the spending structure has been attributed to three factors.
First is the sharp decrease in the frequency of import purchases. The frequency of import purchases decreased sharply in November, in comparison with October, and then rose again in December, but still saw a 19.8% decrease in the last three months. The figure is lower for domestic products purchases, at 13.3%.
Second, as the spending value for each purchase of import products is much higher than domestic products, it is understandable why the decreased frequency of imports purchases has led to the decrease in spending for import products.
Third, the shift in structuring, by nature, is the decrease in spending on import products in the context of consumers’ tightening of their belt.
The spending cuts and consumption changes can be seen with most products, especially in the pharmaceutical sector, which has been dominated by imports.
However, wine and brewery prove to be the exclusion. The proportion of domestic wine and brewery products decreased sharply in the last three months. The proportion increased again in December, in comparison with November, but still saw the decrease of 3.8% in comparison with October.
The consumers’ choice of using domestic products proves to be a good thing. However, some experts have pointed out that consumers changed their consumption habits because they want to cut down on spending and pay less for valuable products.
The survey also showed that domestic products are now competitive with import products in the segment of medium-class and low-cost products, while they are absent in the segment of high-grade products.
It is clear that in the belt-tightening period, domestic products have their own advantages. It is now the right time for Vietnamese enterprises to conquer domestic consumers.
Saigon tiep thi
|
