Nielsen’s First Vietnam Forum Focuses on Today’s Consumer

Contacts:
Tam Nguyen, (84) 976 060 044
Tu Le, (84) 0936 321 321 

Key Findings:

• Speakers Offered a Look at What’s Motivating Vietnam’s Consumers,
•  Where Opportunities Are in a Challenging Economy

Nielsen, a global leader in market intelligence and insights, today held its first-ever Vietnam Forum, a gathering of nearly 200 clients from the retail, manufacturing, media, marketing and other sectors to highlight the key consumer trends in the country today and more importantly, where they are likely to head in 2012. The half-day event featured a range of speakers

• Madame Dinh Thi My Loan, head of the Association of Vietnam Retailers, who spoke about the key trends and challenges facing retail operators today;
• Mr. Nguyen Anh Duc, deputy CEO of Saigon CO.OP, the nation’s largest retailer, who presented his views on where retail opportunities lie and channel development;
• Mr. Anson Dichaves, Nielsen’s Managing Director of Shopper Trends, who outlined the ways to connect with consumers;
• Mr. Chang Park, Nielsen’s regional head of Analytic Consulting, spoke about the principles of pricing in an inflationary environment.
• Mr. Doan Duy Khoa, Associate Director of Consumer Research at Nielsen, who outlined the behavior of Vietnam’s affluent consumers with respect to financial services.

 Madame Loan noted the changes in the retail environment over the past few years, particularly the growth of Modern Trade, alternative retail channels such as e-commerce and TV shopping and the importance of using social networks for marketing. Retailers who put consumers first in terms of quality, customer service and promotions will have an advantage in the competitive market.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Duc from Saigon CO.OP addressed three key issues: Is Vietnam’s retail market still attractive? What is the impact of different store formats? And will consumers accept new formats?  Mr. Duc noted that Vietnamese consumers tend to prefer local brands and that in his opinion, new market entrants faced challenges given the number of companies already operating in the country.

“Consumers make decisions in three seconds,” said Mr. Anson, which reinforces the need to make a quick connection with them. To do so, marketers need to keep five considerations in mind when developing products and marketing campaigns:

1)      Complicated messages will be ignored: the simpler the message the better

2)      Male and females brains are different: they need to be marketed to in different ways, keeping in mind physiological and psychological variations

3)      The brain makes sense of one’s environment and how it fits in one’s life: the who, why, where and how of the shopping experience

4)      Ignite emotion: appeal to consumers’ needs, wants and desires

5)      Creating the “autopilot”: shoppers tend to buy the same things over and over; how can product manufacturers make – or break – autopilot?

 Nielsen’s Chang noted that all retailers and manufacturers faced pressures in terms of higher costs for fuel and commodities and the hazards of passing on those increases directly to consumers. Instead, manufacturers should consider other ways of recouping costs such as packaging downsizing, to which consumers tend to be less sensitive.

With average income increasing four times in a decade, Vietnamese are becoming more affluent, and Nielsen’s Khoa said that significant opportunities exist for financial service companies to reach the country’s higher income individuals and households. Mr. Khoa noted that while residents of HCMC had a higher awareness of financial products and services, Hanoians actually had higher usage rates. The keys to reaching affluent consumers: focus on customer service, as that is their top priority and use it as a way to differentiate from the competition, and build services and products that are simple and unique.

“It’s been a challenging year in Vietnam given the extraordinary inflationary pressures. Nevertheless, there remains a tremendous amount of potential growth for retailers, manufacturers and service providers alike, as long as they know what today’s consumers are thinking and what motivates them. Those who can successfully connect with them will continue to succeed despite the economic issues that are expected to prevail through most of 2012,” said Mr. Darin Williams, Nielsen Vietnam’s Managing Director.