Vietnamese Internet

Users Online Buying

And Selling Behavior
Results of an online-survey
among 2,495 internet users aged
18 - 54
Fieldwork: 20 July 13 August , 2012

Conditions of Use and Copyright

Readers are welcome to use the data contained in this report for their own
purposes provided they acknowledge the source and both Acorn and Epinion
as the authors.

Research Purpose and Methodology

Purpose: To understand Vietnamese internet users online buying
and selling behaviour
Roles in the Joint Study:
Acorn study & questionnaire design, charting, analysis and reporting
Epinion- programming, selection of respondents & online administration

Respondent selection criteria:

Existing members of Epinions online panel
Aged 18 to 54
Quotas placed on age to be representative of Vietnams internet
using population
Nationwide coverage
Methodology: Online survey via emailed invitation -July/Aug 12
Length of interview: maximum 20 minutes
Sample size: n=2,495
Data Analysis: Data post-weighted to reflect actual internet usage
age ranges in Vietnam

OVERVIEW OF SAMPLED
RESPONDENTS

Sample Profile (Online Respondents)

Gender

Age

38%

36%
26%

Male
47%

53%

Female

18-24 yo

Income /SES
A+

25-34 yo

Education
2%

13%

11%

24%

33%
63%

Secondary school and

under
High school

29%

F-D

35-54 yo

16%

University - without
degree
University - with degree

10%

Base: All respondents, n=2,495

Online Users
Internet Usage
How long have they been using
the Internet?

15%

Less than 3 years

More than 5
hours

6%

4 to 6 years
7 to 9 years

How many hours per day do

they spend online?

28%

43%

3-5 hours

34%

21%

10 to 12 years
1- 2 hours

20%

Over 12 years
30%

Less than 1
hour

Average internet
usage 8.5 years

2%

Average internet use

5 hours per day

Ref: How many years have you been accessing the internet? / How many
hours do spend online each day?
Base: All respondents, n=2,495

ONLINE SHOPPING BEHAVIOR

Online Window Shopping & Buying

0.3%

12%

No
99.7%

Ever Visited Online Shopping Sites

Ever Bought Anything Online

72%

Everyday
Once/week or more

Yes

88%

22%

More than 25 times

11-25 times

20%
14%

Once/month or more

3%

6-10 times

20%

Once/3 months or more

2%

3-5 times

21%

Less often

1%

Less than 2 times

Visit frequency

14%

Purchase frequency

Ref: How often do you visit online shopping sites and/or buy and sell sites/auction
sites? / How many times have you bought something online?
Base: All respondents, n=2,495

Online Users
Buyer Segments

8%

7%

8%

8%

4%

5%

3%

4%

12%

11%

14%

17%

Never bought & don't

intend to
Never bought but might
in future

40%

41%

36%

Ever bought, just 1-2

times

45%
Moderate buyer (3-10)

Heavy buyer (>10)

33%

TOTAL

37%

41%

26%

18-24 yo

25-34 yo

35-54 yo

Ref: How many times have you bought something online? / How likely are you
to consider buying something online?
Base: All respondents, n=2,495

Online Users
Devices Owned & Used to Access Shopping Sites

76%

63%

Device owned

64%

Device used to access shopping sites

45%

47%
37%

22%
16%
12%
8%

Laptop

PC at home

Feature phone with

3G/GPRS

Smart phone

Ref: Which of the listed items you personally own / Which device do you use
to access online shopping sites/buy and sell/auction sites?
Base: All respondents, n=2,495

Tablet

Types of Online Shopping Websites

Site owner bulk buys goods and services
from suppliers and resells them to
consumers as redeemable coupons at
discounted rates. Payment usually COD

Coupon sites
Example sites:
- Muachung.com
- Cungmua.com
- Nhommua.com

Individuals /small companies post new/used

items for sale online paying site owner to post
ad. Payment and delivery settled directly
between poster and buyer.

Classified Ads Sites

Vietnams Online
Shopping Website Types

Proprietary online stores owned by one

company normally bigger companies
often sell electronics. Promoting online
payment but can also be COD.

Online retail sites

Eg
- Thegioididong.com
- Fptshop.com

Examples
- 5giay.vn
- Rongbay.com
- Muare.vn
- 123mua.vn

Similar to classified ad sites but for more

serious small businesses to make mass
sales. Payment may be via site or direct
to poster. Good delivered by poster.

Commercial sites
Examples
- Vatgia.com
- Aha.vn

Examples of Key Websites by Shopping Site Type

Coupon sites

Classified Ads
sites

Commercial
sites

Online retail
sites

51deal.vn

123mua.com

aha.vn

fptshop.com.vn

cucre.vn

5giay.vn

vatgia.com

thegioididong.com

cungmua.com

chodientu.vn

cungmuasam.net

ebay.vn

hotdeal.vn

enbac.com

khuyenmaivang.com

muaban.net

muachung.vn

muaban24h.com.vn

nhommua.com

muare.vn

vndoan.com

raovat.vn
rongbay.com

Online Users
Type Of Shopping Websites Visited Most Often
79%
80%

76%

82%
75%

77%

18-24 yo

75% 75%

25-34 yo
35-54 yo
Total

46% 52%
46%

43%
28%
29%

29%
25%

Coupon site

Classified

Muachung.com
EXAMPLES >>Hotdeal.vn

5giay.vn
Rongbay.com

Commercial site

Online retailer site

Thegioididong.com
Fptshop.com

Ref: Which of the following sites have you visited in the past month please tick
all those you have visited?
Base: All respondents, n=2,495

Vatgia.com
Aha.vn

Online Shopping
Most Popular Shopping Website Types & Conversion Rates
79%

Visited
Purchased

76%

65%

46%

29%

28%

13%

Coupon site

Conversion
rates (%)

82%

Classified

38%

Commercial site

28%

11%

Online retailer site

39%

Ref: Which are the following shopping/buy & sell/auction sites you visit the most often? /
Which of these sites did you make your last three purchases from?
Base: All respondents, n=2,495

Online Shopping
Item Categories Bought Online
# of items

Bought
Median # times

5
5

61%

70%
60%

50%
4
3
3

40%

42%

37%
3

3
30%

32% 31%

2
1

26% 24% 24% 24%

2
2
2
23% 22% 21%
2
2
2
2
2
16% 16% 14%
1
12%

20%
10%
0%

-10%

Ref: What categories of products have you ever bought online / Please indicate
the number of times you have bought items in each category online .
Base: Online Buyers, n=2,197

Online Shopping
Categories Less Suited to be Sold Online

Bought

61%

Not Appropriate to be sold

42%
37%
32%32% 31%
29%
24%

24%

23%

20%
18%
16%
12%

24%
16%16%
15%

12%

24%
14%
10% 10%

9%

26%
21%

8%

Ref: What categories of products have you ever bought online / Which products
categories are NOT APPROPRIATE to be sold online in your opinion?
Base: Online Buyers, n=2,197

5%

23%

4%

22%

4%

Online Shopping
Method of Order Placement for Online Purchases
Telephone vs Direct Online Order Placement

Share of total orders

31%

69%

96%
71%

Has placed order directly online

Ordered directly online

Has placed order via telephone

Placed order via phone (after search)

Ref: How many of the purchases you have ever made online were: a) directly
ordered online and b) ordered via a telephone hotline (for direct delivery) after
an online search?
Base: Online Buyers, n=2,197

Online Shopping
Average Spend for Last Purchase & Payment Mode
367,000 VND

Mean spend (last purchase)

400,000

750,000
400,000

4%
10%

Cash on delivery
750,000

Debit card online

3%
4%

Credit card online

750,000

2%

Third party online

400,000

Online bank transfer

Check/cash sent first

77%

Ref: How much did you spend on your last online purchase?
When buying something online, how do you pay most often? - MEDIAN
Base: Online Buyers, n=2,197

Online Shopping
Satisfaction Compared to Face-to-Face Shopping

Somewhat

29%

37%

Much

22%

9%

3%
Better than face to face
instore shopping

About the same as face to face

instore shopping

Worse than face to face

instore shopping

Ref: How satisfied are you with the experience of shopping online compared with
normal.
Base: Online Buyers, n=2,197

Online Shopping
Future Intention to Keep Buying Online
7%

67%

7%

64%

Negative
Positive

Intention to buy online again

Recommendation to others

Ref: How likely are you to shop online again? /

Would you recommend shopping online to your friends and relatives?
Base: Online Buyers, n=2,197

Online Window Shoppers

Barriers to Buying Online for Non-Shoppers
100%
n=2,495

Yes
No

0.3%

99.7%

99.7%
n=2,487

Ever visited online

Shopping sites

88%

12%

12%
n=291

25%

9%
n=218

75%

Ever wanted to buy

something but didnt

Ever bought

Reason for Not Buying the Item Seen Online & Desired (that could afford)
Price -more expensive than in the shops
Prefer to see and touch
Quality/appropriateness - not sure it was fit for purpose
Availability - didn't have the type I wanted
Fear- Afraid my payment details will be hacked
Payment - I had no way to make payment
Delivery - Slow delivery, it's quicker to buy it myself
Delivery - I fear the goods will not be delivered after paid

40%
32%
30%
25%

14%
12%
6%
3%

Ref: Did you ever see anything at online shopping sites/auction/buy & sell sites
that you wanted to buy and had enough money to afford? / Why did you not
buy the item(s) - what were the reasons?
Base: All respondents, n=2,495

Non-Shoppers
Likelihood to Buy Online in the Future

8%

14%

Very likely
16%

Somewhat likely
Might of might not

20%

Somewhat unlikely
Very unlikely

43%

Ref: How likely are you to consider buying something online in the future?
Base: Internet users who window shop but have never bought anything online &
who never visit online shopping sites, n=298

Non-Shoppers
Attitudes to Shopping Online
76%

Making payments for goods bought from the internet is dangerous

4%

Buying things online saves time over buying things face to face

66%

11%

I generally trust people & companies selling things online

65%

16%

63%

I would buy things online if there was a safe payment & delivery system

60%

You can get the same quality at a cheaper price on the internet

54%

Just about any service or product can be sold over the internet

There are safe ways to pay for things over the internet
I do not ever see myself buying anything over the internet
The internet is a good place for finding out about products & window

50%
46%
43%

The internet is a great source for finding out about new products

41%

In the future, all Vietnamese with internet access will buy things online

40%

You can be reasonably sure that goods will be delivered after bought online

40%

Negative statement

Agree

17%

Disagree

Ref: How much do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements?
Base: Internet users who window shop but have never bought anything online &
who never visit online shopping sites, n=298

19%
32%
31%
32%
31%
32%
38%
34%

ONLINE SELLING BEHAVIOR

Online Selling Behavior

Incidence and Top Categories Sold
Ever Sold Online
Product Types Sold (%)

66%

Yes
37

No

Sold
33

34%

Only Second hand items

28

17 16

14
11

34%
n=849

11
6

5 4

5 5

3 2

3 2

Ref: Have you ever SOLD anything over the internet, either via an auction site or
your own website? / What kind of products have you sold online?
Base: All respondents, n=2,495; Online sellers, n=849

3 2

2 1

2 1

Online Selling Behavior

Type of Goods Sold

NEW
33%

BOTH
30%

Ref: Was the item(s) you sold new or second-hand/used?

Base: Online sellers, n=849

2nd HAND
37%

Online Buying and Selling Behavior

Most Popular Categories Sold

53%

Bought
Sold

37%
32%
28%

27%
23%

21%

21%

21%

20%

19%

18%
14%

13%

14%

13%

9%
2%

1%

4%

2%

1%

4%

11%

5%
1%

1%

Ref: What categories of products have you ever bought online?

What kind of products have you sold online?
Base: All respondents, n=2,495

1%

0%

0%

1%

2%

Online Selling Behavior

Type Of Websites Used by Sellers

79%

76%

65%

Visited
Purchased
Sold

46%

29%

28%

21%
13%

11%

8%

Coupon site

Classified

Commercial site

Online retailer site

Ref: Which are the following shopping/buy & sell/auction sites you visit the most
often? / Which of these sites did you make your last three purchases from?
Base: All respondents, n=2,495

Online Selling Behavior

100%
n=2,495

Ever Sold Online

Satisfaction with result

34%; n=849
34%

Satisfied

Future online selling likelihood

Dissatisfied

66%

61%

17%

Likely

66%; n=1,646

Unlikely
Yes

57%

18%

No

Top 3 Barriers to Taking Up Internet Selling

Sourcing the product to sell
Advertising/promoting the item to the audience
Deciding what to sell
Establishing and controlling the payment system
Ensuring the delivery of product
Trusting the buyer
Setting the price
Handling tax implications and accounting

46%
42%
42%
40%
26%
22%
21%
17%

Ref: How satisfied were you with the result of selling online? / How likely are you
to try to sell something online in the future? / From this list what would be
the top three most barriers that you believe you would face in conducting or
setting-up online sales?
Base: All respondents, n=2,495; Never sellers n=1,646

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Executive Summary
Online Shopping Incidence and Behaviour
Virtually all (99.7%) internet users have visited a shopping site online and 72% do
so everyday
Two-thirds of Vietnamese online shoppers access shopping sites online and 45%
do so on a desktop PC only 22% use their smartphone and just 8% use a tablet
A staggering 88% have ever bought something online, with 20% claiming more
than 25 purchases to date and a median of 8.75 purchases
Most have bought things through coupon sites (65%) and classified ad sites (29%),
with 13% buying through commercial sites and 11% through online retailer sites
Even among the 12% who have never bought anything online, 4% do not rule out
the possibility that they will nor are never-shoppers more prevalent among the
older age groups, indeed older respondents (35-54 years) appear to contain more
heavy buyers than younger age groups
Most commonly bought items are fashion (61%), house appliances (42%), food
and beverages (37%), mobile devices (37%) and cosmetics (31%). Least likely to
have been purchased online are phone apps and software (12%).
Average (median) spend on last item purchased was approx. VND 367,000 (US$
17.6), though 8% said they spent over 5 million VND (US$ 240)

Executive Summary
Online Shopping Incidence and Behaviour
But given poor access to credit and low bank usage in Vietnam, cash on delivery
dominates e-commerce in Vietnam - three quarters of last purchases were by cash
on delivery to home and only 5% made by credit or debit card
Vietnamese on-line buyers feel comfortable buying online - with a plurality (38%)
believing that online shopping is better than face-to-face shopping, while just 25%
feel it is worse and two-thirds saying they will buy online again in future
They also believe most items can be sold online though electronic devices and
mobile devices are thought to be least appropriate to be bought online, while few
people reject buying travel services and tickets online

Non-buyers
Among never buyers, around 75% have window-shopped online and wanted to
buy something that they could afford, but did not buy it, with 40% citing the higher
price online than in the shops as the major disincentive, followed by the need to
touch and feel the objects (32%)
Trust appears to remain a barrier among those who have never bought online.
Three-quarters agree that making payments remains dangerous and less than half
(40%) agree that you can be reasonably sure of delivery if you buy something over
the internet.

Executive Summary
Over half also appear to enjoy the shopping experience and finding out about new
products the old fashioned way

Online Selling Incidence

While 88% have ever bought online, just 34% have ever sold anything online with
the incidence of selling new and used goods being roughly equal
Nevertheless, interest in selling online is high even among those who have never
done so with over half (57%) saying they will likely sell something online in
future
However, potential sellers are put off from selling online primarily by not knowing
where to source merchandise (46%), or what to sell (42%), or how to
advertise/promote the product online (42%) or establishing a payment system
(40%)
The most common items sold online are mobile devices (13% of all respondents
have sold these online), fashion items (9%) and electronic devices (3%) and these
are mostly sold over classified sites (21%)

Executive Summary
Conclusions
Persons who join internet panels are self-selected and hence can be expected to
be more active online than the average internet user. But even accounting for this,
this survey indicates that internet commerce is here to stay in Vietnam and can
only be expected to grow.
Vietnamese netizens feel comfortable online and a surprising number have
bought (88%) and sold (34%) online already.
However, online commerce in Vietnam has adopted a peculiarly Vietnamese flavor
in accordance with the state of financial development. Three quarters of
transactions are completed using cash on delivery whereby a delivery man rides
the ubiquitous motorcycle to your door to deliver your order. Credit and debit
cards are so rare that only 5% of last transactions were paid in this way.
Trust in payment systems, and doubts about whether goods will be delivered also
remain as significant barriers to online commerce in the minds of never buyers
even though two-thirds agree that online purchases save time, and possibly money
over face to face shopping.
But as confidence in the banking and payments systems improves, these barriers
are also likely to slowly dissolve and internet commerce can only thrive and grow.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Acorn Vietnam
Contact : Pham Tran Nghia
Email : pham.tran.nghia@epinion.vn

Contact: Bill Pritchard

Email: william@acorn.com.vn

Tel: +84 905 025 752

Tel: +84-8-3823-3007