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High-tech products sales still high
Though Vietnamese consumers have been trying to cut spending, popular high-tech products are still selling well, which is really a surprise to distributors.
Popular products the first choice
Pico Home Appliance Centre has reported steady increases in sales of high-tech and telecommunication products since Tet, especially sales on weekends are three times higher than on ordinary days.
In March, for example, Pico got VND3bil in turnover on some weekends. Of this amount, mobile phones brought 15%, digital cameras 10%, and electronics 40%.
The best sellers all have ‘soft’ prices. For example, some 1,000 digital cameras priced at VND1.5-3mil can be sold a month. Laptops which are priced at less than VND10mil, and mobile phones priced at from several hundred thousand VND to VND2mil are selling well.
The owner of Bach Phuong Laptop chain Nguyen Van Phong also said that the market has been witnessing big changes. At the end of 2008, sales were very slow, but have been increasing significantly since Tet.
On average, the three shops of Bach Phuong chain sell 550 laptops, 2/3 of which have sale prices of less than VND15mil with the brand names of HP, Lenovo, Dell or Asus.
The owner of DigiWorld Shop on Hang Bai street said that in order to boost sales, he has to diversify products on sale. However, laptops priced at below VND10mil prove to be selling best, and account for 70% of sold products.
Young customers ready to pay
Distributors all say that customers can be divided into two groups, below and above 35 years old. They say that the main clients of high-tech products are young people below 35.
“The number of young customers has increased by 20% over the same period of last year, while the number of elderly customers has dropped off,” said Phong from Bach Phuong chain.
Phong added that at Bich Phuong, 40% of customers are students, while the majority of the rest are under 30.
The owner of DigiWorld also said that young people make purchases when they feel they want the products. If they later do not like the products anymore, they give them to someone else. Meanwhile, elderly people always consider thoroughly before making decisions.
Besides, the sharp price falls of commodities, the diversification of high-tech products, the profuse money lying among northern people, who always have the habit of saving money during their lives, have also been cited as reasons for the satisfactory sales of high-tech products.
Growth will still be seen
Sales of home appliances like refrigerators, washing machines have been decreasing since mid 2008, while telecom and high tech products have still seen satisfactory growth rates, according to Ngo Thanh Dat from Pico.
Dat cited statistics, saying that telecom and mobile phone sales in 2008 increased by 13%, reaching $1,068mil, while the sales of high tech products increased by 29% ($998mil), digital products up by 37% ($86mil). In 2009, the groups of products are expected to see growth rates of 16%, 24% and 29%, respectively.
Distributors in Hanoi share the same view that they do not expect to see big leaps in turnover from the segment of luxury items, while they will continue pushing up the sales of popular products which fit consumers with the income of VND5mil/capita/month.
Nguyen Nga
vietnamnet
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