Buyers feel the pinch more than last year

Among the selected products and services were Kinh Do confectionery, Vissan's processed food, Moc Chau Milk, Tuong An cooking oil, Acecook Vietnam's Hao Hao instant noodle, May 10 jacket, BIDV-Manchester United credit card, Midea home appliances and VietjetAir.— File Photo

HCM CITY (Biz Hub)—Vietnamese consumers are tightening their spending, with more people doing so compared to 2012, according to a survey released last Saturday by the Vietnam Economic Times (VET).

The annual consumer survey, based on 5,000 respondents of different ages and strata of life, said nearly 58 per cent of the respondents revealed that they had cut down on spending, compared to 49.8 per cent last year.

More than 28 per cent said they did not change their spending compared to 23 per cent last year, and 16 per cent said they spent more, compared to more than 27 per cent last year.

Food and beverages accounted for the biggest expenditures, nearly 24 per cent, followed by electronics and financial products/services, each at 13.7 per cent. Last year, food and beverages were much higher, at 38.7 per cent.

The trend of tighter spending was also shown in the results of another survey conducted by Tu Van Tieu Dung (Consumption Consultancy), a publication of VET.

They surveyed consumers' 100 favourite products and services by collecting 15,000 votes via paper and 43,000 via the internet.

Value-for-money and environmental friendliness were the major criteria. — VNS