HCM CITY – As more and more people are using smart phones for online shopping, businesses should learn how to and make full use of this potential, experts told a conference on mobile e-commerce in HCM City on Friday.

According to Huỳnh Bích Trân, associate director of Neilsen Việt Nam, around 51 per cent of the Vietnamese population uses smart phones, and this can increase to 59.2 per cent by 2020.

Generation Z (a demographic born between the mid-1990s and mid-2000s) is a potentially lucrative market that typically depends on smart phones and the internet, and by 2025 will be aged 20-30 and number 14.7 million or 21 per cent of the workforce.   

Many young customers – referred to as “connected spenders” – utilise the internet and modern technology for their shopping.

They are more likely to read reviews and do thorough research on products and company reputations and look around to find the best deals.  

Trân said businesses looking to produce advertising videos or articles should make them short, concise and with contents likely to be beneficial to their readers.

Nguyễn Thị Thu Hương, head of the HCM City branch of SAPO, a retail management solutions provider, said in addition to the rising trend of mobile shopping, smart phones and barcode scanning could be integrated into systems to allow easier inventory checking, financial management and checking of delivery status.

Lê Hoàng Vy, director of the Lazada Việt Nam Academy, said a recent survey called Digital in 2018 in Southeast Asia said 33 per cent of Vietnamese made at least one online purchase on a smart phone last January.

She said a large portion of purchases made on Lazada were through its app.

To tap the potential of mobile shopping, businesses need to offer professional customer service similar to well-managed brick-and-mortar stores, reply to customers’enquiries and offer consultancy as quickly as possible, according to Vy.

Businesses should also pay extra attention to the design of their mobile apps and social media pages to create a professional image, offer clear information and high-quality images to build customer trust, she said.

Đỗ Văn Việt, CEO of GTV SEO, a consultancy, said businesses should make use of search engine optimisation and learn about most searched keywords to market themselves better.

Nguyễn Hoàng Xuân, founder and chief commercial officer of live streaming service provider Cocalive, said using social media and influential people to market products is highly effective.

“There is a rising trend of customers making online purchases on mobile phones or involving their phones in their shopping, but the conversion rate on mobile phones (rate of visitors actually making a purchase) is still relatively low.

“A large number of businesses have not yet truly grasped mobile shopping and may not know how to market themselves effectively.”

“They need to be educated on operating businesses through mobile phones and related techniques, and fully understanding their customer bases and building their apps or social media pages accordingly.” – VNS