VietNamNet Bridge – More and more Vietnamese have got keen on luxurious goods and willing to pay money on branded products, even though they are much more expensive than the average income.

Vietnamese income “average”, spending “extravagant”

It is not by chance that the world’s most famous fashion brands all have been eyeing the Vietnamese market, a small country in South East Asia with the modest income of approximately $2,000 per capita.

An online survey conducted by Nielsen on 29,000 people in 58 countries throughout the world has found out that 56 percent of polled Vietnamese say they are willing to spend big money on branded goods.

The survey has pointed out that Vietnamese shopaholics rank the third in the world in terms of the passion for branded goods, just after Chinese (74 percent) and India (59 percent).

Also according to Nielsen, Vietnamese, like other Asian people, are willing to spend money on luxurious goods to show off their high positions in the society.

Branded goods have always been the hottest topic on women’s forums, such as diendan.eva.vn, webtre... hay lamcha... or authent… The exorbitant branded goods items shown there, including handbags, cosmetics or clothes, have the prices of hundreds of millions of dong.

If noting that the monthly income of VND10 million is considered “high income” in Vietnam, a luxury item would cost 2-3-year income of a “high income earner.”

A young Vietnamese man would proudly show his shoes, jeans and watches worth thousands of dollars each, on Facebook. A pop star’s shirt alone may cost several billions of dong, which is equal to the income a farmer can obtain after tens of years of working hard.

On men’s and women’s forums, members spend hours gossiping about a movie star’s expensive jacket, commenting about a billions-of-dong worth gown of a fashion model.

It is now very easy to buy branded goods in Vietnam. Shopaholics can go directly to fashion shops, buy online or place orders with traders.

Hang Nga, a trader who takes orders for branded goods in the UK, said she sends to Vietnam 50-70 kilos, or sometimes 100 kilos of goods for every consignment of clothes, cosmetics. Two consignments are sent every week.

Nga said the goods are not really “luxurious” in Europe, priced at Euro20-100. However, they cost a fortune to a lot of Vietnamese, about VND600,000-3 million. Besides, customers have to pay relatively high shipping fees to get the deliveries.

In general, popular products account for 60-70 percent of the total products in every consignment Nga sends to Vietnam, while the other 30-40 percent are branded luxurious products, worth hundreds of thousands of Euros.

Nga affirmed that foreign brands always mean “perfect” in the thoughts of Vietnamese. This explains why orders have come continuously, no matter it is the sale-off season or not.

Philippe Léopold-Metzger, President of Piaget, also noted that Vietnam is a very potential market for branded goods. And the potential market has been burdened with the high public debts and trade deficit.

The Global Debt Clock on The Economist showed that Vietnam’s public debt had reached $74.294 billion by July 2013. Each of Vietnamese bears $826.4 worth of public debt. The debt now accounts for 48.9 percent of GDP, an increase of 12.2 percent over 2012.

According to Global Insights, Bain Analysis, the Vietnamese consumption growth rate in 2011-2020 would be the highest in ASEAN, which would be even higher than that of Indonesia, Malaysia (5 percent), the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore.

Kham Pha