The boom in demand during the peak year-end shopping season augurs well for a recovery and provides momentum for 2022. — Photo congthuong.vn

Viet Nam, like many other countries, suffered economically from the COVID-19 pandemic in the second half of 2021, but the boom in demand during the peak year-end shopping season augurs well for a recovery and provides momentum for 2022.

According to a study by Facebook and Bain & Company, the pandemic has caused a paradigm shift in shopping habits.

The way Vietnamese consumers shop has undergone a great change, with online channels playing an increasingly larger role in each stage such as awareness, research and purchase.

Furthermore, the number of categories of goods bought online has increased by half and of online stores by 40 per cent, resulting in a 150 per cent increase in total online retail sales from 2020.

According to statistics from J&T Express, an international express delivery company, the number of orders in November with Mega Days on 11/11 and Black Friday increased sharply compared to the same period in 2020.

The orders were no longer concentrated in big cities but came from provinces across the country.

A survey by Facebook and GroupM Vietnam found that 46 per cent of internet users in rural areas shop online.

The report also predicted that the monthly spending on FMCG in rural areas will increase by 7 per cent annually until 2025, faster than in tier 1 urban areas (4 per cent).

Year-end shopping season

The Facebook-Bain study, ‘SYNC Southeast Asia,’ said after a long period of restrictions, the 2022 Lunar New Year is expected to explode across the country as consumers spend and shop earlier than usual for Tet.

At the same time, e-commerce is gradually becoming familiar to many people, with 79 per cent saying they purchased online during Tet 2021 and 90 per cent saying they would consider shopping online in future, it said. — VNS