Vietnamese consumer confidence finished 2017 on a high note, helping the country to rank as the seventh most optimistic country in the world.

This was reported in the latest issue of the Conference Board Global Consumer Confidence Survey, conducted in collaboration with Nielsen.

According to the survey, consumer confidence in Viet Nam in Q4 2017 decreased by one point compared to the previous quarter to 115 points.

“Overall, we saw a stable and high confidence level among the Vietnamese consumers throughout 2017,” said Nguyen Huong Quynh, Managing Director, Nielsen Vietnam.

According to Quynh, the optimism of the Vietnamese consumers can be attributed to the good momentum of economic growth across industries, combined with positive signals of foreign investment flows, increasing household income and growth-oriented Government policies.

Besides this, Quynh said, the consistent trend could be influenced by the build-up of positive sentiment towards personal finance status as well as immediate spending intentions during the past years.

Consistent with many past quarters, after covering essential living expenses, the Vietnamese consumers were eager to spend on big-ticket items to enhance the quality of life in the fourth quarter of 2017. Nearly half of the consumers were willing to spend their spare cash on new clothes (49 per cent) and vacations (44 per cent). Some two in five persons spent on new technology products (40 per cent), out-of-home entertainment (41 per cent) and home improvements (42 per cent).

However, the Vietnamese consumers still had a strong affinity towards saving. Close to three quarters of the population (72 per cent) put their spare cash into savings (compared to 66 per cent in the previous quarter). The report also revealed that saving was an integral part of Southeast Asian consumers, with 66 per cent of the respondents putting their spare cash into savings.

In this quarter, the top five concerns among the Vietnamese consumers remained the same as in the previous quarter. Job security continued to top the list (46 per cent), followed by health (40 per cent), work/life balance (27 per cent), the economy (21 per cent) and parents’ welfare and happiness (19 per cent).

“It is observed that there was a little movement in the concern for job security and state of economy. These concerns slightly strengthened in the last quarter of 2017, which can make consumers cautious about their spending habits and thus motivate them to curb their daily expenses,” Quynh said.

Besides, she noted, as consumers wanted to thrive for a better life and had high aspirations of securing their children’s future, owning a house or high-tech products and having more frequent local or overseas holidays, the feeling of cautiousness in spending was likely to continue, which could make them save more and prioritise their spending. — VNS