Retailers see big opportunities from online shoppers

Recent reports from market analysis firms all show that consumers are changing their ways of buying goods. Instead of visiting shops, they access online websites.

In a report released on September 7, Nielsen said now is the right time for businesses to pay attention to the new source for growth – consumers who are connected with the internet and willing to spend a lot.

A survey conducted by Nielsen and Demand Institute found that by 2025, connected spenders will account for nearly 40% of the total population all over the globe and make up 50% of total consumption.

Meanwhile, Vietnam, like other regional countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, is among the countries with the highest numbers of consumers of this type thanks to the rapid development of digital technology.

It was estimated that there were 23 million Vietnamese consumers in this group, while the figure is believed to rise to 40 million by 2025. The consumers have knowledge about digital technology, are willing to spend big money and even more than they earn.

Of the consumers, according to Nielsen Vietnam, 34% are aged 21-34. Seventy six percent of them have high income, 62% are middle-class income earners and 43% are from a lower income group.

The customers are believed to be omni-channel buyers. About 80% of them think buying goods online is the most convenient, but before making purchase decisions, they collect more information about products from two sources, either through sale websites and comments on social networks, or at shops. 

There are also the customers who come to see products at shops and then order online, because they want to enjoy discounts and sale promotion programs.

The Singaporean e-commerce marketing firm Criteo has found after a survey that 50% of Vietnamese population use internet, 44% of Vietnamese families have smartphones and in 2011-2015, the number of online buyers increased by 129%. It is expected that there would be 10 million online shoppers more in the next three years.

How have Vietnamese businesses exploited the great potential? According to Kantar Worldpanel, e-commerce is booming in Vietnam, but 43% of revenue comes through Facebook fanpages, while 57% is from official online shopping sites.

By 2016, online sales had accounted for 0.4% of the total revenue of the retail market. The figure is expected to increase by 2.2% by 2025, with 26% of consumers shopping online.