VietNamNet Bridge – The mobile phone imports in the first six months of 2012 were 23
percent lower than that of the same period of the last year, which has been
explained by the low demand in the economic crisis.
Mobile phone imports
down, except luxurious products
According to the General Department of Customs (GDC),
Vietnam imported 1.19 mobile phones in June 2012 worth 63.14 million dollars,
representing the increase of 20.42 percent in terms of quantity and the
increase of 7.52 percent in value in comparison with April 2012.
As such, in the first half of the year, Vietnam
imported 6.26 million products, down by 23.72 percent with the import value of
304.4 million dollars, down by 15.32 percent in comparison with that of the
first six months of 2011.
The imports decreases have been explained by the low
domestic demand, since people nowadays tend to cut down expenses in the context
of high inflation.
However, the imports decreases only happened with low
cost and medium class products. Meanwhile, the import turnover of high grade
mobile phones which have the sale prices of 5-10 million dong still has been
increasing steadily so far this year, which shows that the economic crisis has
in no way influenced the rich people.
Despite the gloomy market, the imports of HTC brand products
still increased by 400 percent in the first five months of 2012, while the
imports of other manufacturers have seen continued decreases.
Low demand leads to
low sales
Mobile phone dealers said that there is a stiff rival
between domestic and foreign brands in the low cost smart phone market segment.
Vietnamese brands such as Viettel, FPT or Q-Mobile,
and foreign brands such as LG, HTC and Samsung all have been pushing up the
development of smart phones, which they believe would be the key products in
the near future.
Most recently, Q-Mobile launched a series of
multi-touch smart phones with many features, which have very reasonable prices
at 1.5-3 million dong only.
An executive of The Gioi Di Dong, the biggest mobile
phone distributor in Vietnam, said that the products running on Android
operation system have the prices on the decrease; therefore, they have become
the big choice of the majority of consumers.
A report by IDC, a market survey firm, pointed out
that Android-based products now account for 79 percent of the market share,
much higher than Windows Phone and iOS.
“It is expected that the low-cost Android-based smart
phones priced at 1.5 million dong would be available more on the market by the
end of 2012. This, plus the enlarged 3G coverage in Vietnam and the more
reasonable service charges would lead to the increase in the number of
customers using the products,” the executive said.
However, popular products with low prices and few
basic functions remain the biggest choice by the majority of customers.
Therefore, mobile phone manufacturers all have been keeping a keen eye on the
market segment. Q-Mobile, ConnSpeed, Avio, FPT and Nokia, Samsung, LG all have
their products on the market.
A report by the Vietnam Industry and Trade Information
Center under the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that the mobile phone
sales in the first months of 2012 were the lowest in the last three years.
Truong Dinh Anh, General Director of FPT Group, has
agreed that the consumption has decreased significantly, explaining that people
nowadays do not spend money on non-essential goods.
The Gioi Di Dong, Vien Thong A and FPT Retail all have
reported the sharp fall of 30 percent in the first and second quarters of the
year.
“Previously, a retail branch could have the revenue of
2.5-3 billion dong, while the figure has dropped to 1.5-1.7 billion dong,” Anh
said.
Source: Buu Dien
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