Greater Spending On The Internet
By Tuyet An
Yahoo! and Kantar Media have just issued the results of a survey on Internet use in Vietnam, Net Index 2010. Spending on the Internet is on the rise and the prospects for e-commerce bright.
Net Index 2010, undertaken by Kantar Media, surveyed 1,500 people aged 15 and over in four big cities, Hanoi, HCM City, Danang and Can Tho. Last year saw significant shifts in the number of users, websites, social stratification and expenditure on the Internet. Net Index 2010 offers insights into popular activities such as emailing, searching and chatting, and analyzes trends in Internet use, including social networking sites and other online channels.
The survey in 2010 indicates that expenditure on Internet services in the four cities in 2009 rose by 20% year-on-year on average, VND210,000 per month in 2009 as compared with VND174,000 per month in 2008. The steepest rise was in Can Tho, from VND115,000 in 2008 to VND192,000 in 2009,which surpassed Hanoians’ average spending of VND173,000 per capita per month. HCM City remained the leading market, with monthly spending per capita of VND256,000, up from VND191,000 in 2008. The figure for Danang increased slightly, to VND155,000.
Notably, Internet access from home rose from 66% in 2008 to 71% in 2009, showing that this modern technology has become an important part of not only society but also family life. Internet access from cafes ebbed from 53% in 2008 to 46% in 2009. While Internet access from offices only inched up slightly, from 24% to 25%, that from mobile phones, a new service, surged from 9% in 2008 to 16% in 2009.
The latter increase was ascribed to the advent of 3G networks and attractive packages offered by telecom service providers. Interestingly, Can Tho and Danang accounted for 29% and 28% of the customer base of these new services, higher than the figures for HCM City and Hanoi, 26% and 7% respectively. This is reflective of the increasing popularity of mobile phones in markets with lower incomes.
Another strength is that Internet access from mobile phones allows young users to tap into and personalize several applications. Consequently, 23% of users of 3G services were aged 15-19, 20% were aged 20-24 and 24% were aged 25-29. Meanwhile, those aged 30-39 and 40 or over accounted for 30% and merely 4% respectively. According to the survey, those who went online via mobile phones mainly searched for information (52%), listened to music (51%) and sent messages (45%).
The most popular online activities across age and gender groups were reading news and playing online games. Net Index 2010 shows that over 90% of Internet users read online news, visit electronic gateways or use search engines. Up to 48% played online games or watched movies. E-commerce also picked up, with 11% of the respondents saying they had engaged in online transactions, up from 4% in 2008. About 8% made online payments. The survey also shows that the growth of e-commerce hinged mainly on young users, with 14% of its customers aged 20-29 and 11% aged 15-19. Up to 34% of the respondents bought electronic products online, 28% bought household goods, 18% bought air tickets and 16% bought books, newspapers or clothes. In other words, e-commerce in these cities took place mainly in the form of C2C or C2B transactions.
Net Index is an annual survey to provide a panoramic view of trends in Internet use from online activities, use patterns, lifestyle and preferences of Internet users to their favorite brands. The survey results will help marketing and media planning agencies obtain more information to better serve their target customers. However, unlike Net Index 2009, the survey in 2010 has not delved deeply into consumer interest in online products.