Thereby increasing the need for health protection products as well as healthy foods helping to increase immunity.
The outbreak of acute respiratory infections caused by novel coronavirus or COVID-19 has disrupted production and business activities in Vietnam since the first virus infection was announced in late January. In addition to the declines in tourism and related services, this epidemic also affects cross-border trade, negatively affecting manufacturing, agribusiness and many other industries.
Consumer behaviors also will change during the outbreak as well as the period after the epidemic passed, according to Kantar research. The spread of coronavirus has become a global emergency. In the short term, the sense of health protection of Vietnamese consumers will therefore increase significantly.
To stay safe and protect themselves, consumers will tend to restrict daily activities that have a high level of interaction with other people. Shopping frequency will probably decrease and instead, shopping cart sizes will increase in every purchase. However, this can still affect short-term retail and consumer goods sales.
Spending on food and beverage (F&B) and other outdoor consumer activities tend to be reduced during the outbreak due to the fact that people will go out or to amusement parks, shopping malls and other entertainment spots less often. Even so, the consumption of fast-moving consumer goods at home is expected to maintain growth and be affected less than external consumption. Household cleaners and personal hygiene products including hand sanitizer, germicidal dry hand sanitizer, wet paper tissues are more consumed due to the increased need to protect themselves. This can lead to an increase in hand lotion by consumers who wash their hands too often resulting in dry skin.
Healthy foods like fruits, fruit juices, vegetables that help boost immunity will experience a sharp increase. Consumers also tend to stock up on ready-to-eat foods such as instant noodles, sausages, and snacks at home, especially in areas where there is infection or in isolated areas. In terms of retail, during this period, smaller, cleaner and closer locations such as groceries, mini supermarkets and convenience stores will take precedence over traditional markets or supermarkets. In addition, the outbreak of the coronavirus is also significantly increasing the number of online shopping transactions and home delivery services.
On top of that, the delay of import-export activities due to the outbreak of Covid-19 is creating challenges for suppliers and sellers in the process of production, distribution and storage of goods. Therefore, in the fight against Covid-19, supply will decrease, which leads to the increase in prices, making consumers more restrictive and considerative in spending.
Firstly, the awareness of health and hygiene of Vietnamese consumers will increase, thereby promoting the development of hygiene, personal and family care products including soap and hand wash water, antibacterial dry hand sanitizer, house cleaning products, paper tissues. These items are still modest in terms of both users and consumption, but are expected to become more popular as more and more people start to get used to buying these items and using them more often.
Secondly, in 2020, e-commerce market share is expected to increase due to its convenience and less direct interaction when shopping. Online-to-offline (OTO) and e-commerce shopping models are suitable and meet the needs of Vietnamese consumers in the meantime. Online shopping platforms and delivery services are expected to grow strongly both in the number of buyers and in revenue thanks to the participation of new buyers who have never experienced online shopping, and the increase in spending from people who have already conducted cybershopping.
Finally, the emergence of shopping channels including mini supermarkets, convenience stores and e-commerce reflects the changes in shopping behaviors of Vietnamese consumers. From using only one or two main shopping channels, shoppers are gradually turning to multi-channel shopping, integrating multiple channels, reinforcing the growing trend of multi-channel retail in the retail and fast-moving consumer goods market in the near future.
>> Vietnam’s import & export interrupted amid coronavirus outbreak
Source: theleader
