Viet Nam is home to a growing number of tech-savvy “connected consumers” that global corporations will increasingly seek to court, according to a study conducted by Nielsen in cooperation with Demand Institute.

The study found that companies looking for growth opportunities are increasingly unable to target the traditional middle class, whose incomes have grown sluggishly in recent years. Instead, they may turn to “a new emerging type of consumer,” said Rakesh Dayal, executive director of Consumer Insights, Nielsen Vietnam.

“Connected spenders are a fast-growing new segment of consumers: digitally savvy consumers with discretionary income and are avid shoppers who punch above their income class in spending,” the director said. “Our research shows that Vietnamese connected spenders will spend $800 billion over the next decade. Therefore, for consumer-facing businesses seeking to grow in Viet Nam, these are the consumers whose needs will need to be addressed.”

The study found that the so-called connected consumers will account for nearly 40 per cent of the global population by 2025, contributing more than 50 per cent to annual global spending. They are defined by their residence in urban areas, a preference for online shopping, price-consciousness, and their use of social media and other online tools to make purchasing choices.

Due to growing access to the digital economy and all that comes with it, the East Asia-Pacific region will witness the greatest increase in the number of connected spenders, especially in emerging markets like Viet Nam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand.

There were 23 million connected spenders in Viet Nam in 2015, according to Nielsen Viet Nam’s latest study, and that sum is expected to grow nearly double to reach 40 million people in 2025. Their spending will rise from US$50 billion annually in 2015 to $99 billion by 2025.

Connected spenders span a range of ages and income groups.

Around one-third of Vietnamese connected spenders are between the ages of 21 and 34 (34 per cent), the report showed.

Over three-quarters of the consumers within the higher income bracket are connected spenders, while nearly two-thirds of middle-income Vietnamese are connected spenders. In the lower income bracket, 43 per cent fall into the category.

Connected spenders tend to be confident in the future: The Nielsen Confidence Consumer Index revealed that in 2015, connected spenders had a consumer confidence score of 117, versus 99 for other Internet users.— VNS