Hanh, 56, in district 8, HCM City, said the routine of her family had changed a lot over the last three months since the pandemic broke out.

“My sons order food every morning online. There are so many shopping service providers now,” she explained. “Goods are delivered just several hours after the orders are placed."

Nguyen Ngoc Dung, deputy chair of Vecom, said Covid-19 helped Vietnamese become more familiar with online shopping and e-payments. 

Previously, when most did offline shopping, the days at the end of the week were the time for families to spend money on shopping and entertainment. However, this habit has changed.

“People now think of buying goods online as they have had to restrict travel and avoid gatherings. After they tried online shopping, they realized that it was very good. Many of them will continue, even when the pandemic ends,” he explained.

Dairy products, instant noodles, soya milk, soda and pork sausage were the five products most ordered on GrabMart in mid-April, in the social distancing period.

GrabMart, a shopping service launched on March 23, reported that after one week of debut, the number of orders increased by 91 percent.

Shopee Vietnam, one of the best known marketplaces in Vietnam, noted that Vietnamese tend to buy daily essential goods online, calling this one of the four major trends of e-commerce in 2020.

On the platform, the total time spent on shopping weekly has increased by 25 percent. Make-up remover, smartphones, milk, diapers, pots and pans are the most wanted products there.

iPrice’s data about Vietnam’s e-commerce market in the first three months of the year also showed hot growth of sales of essential goods and groceries.

The number of visitors to Bach Hoa Xanh in March alone increased by 49 percent compared with the foruth quarter 2019.

Truong Van Quy, CEO of EQVN, a marketing expert, noted that in the social distancing days, consumers developed new habits.

Previously, when most did offline shopping, the days at the end of the week were the time for families to spend money on shopping and entertainment. However, this habit has changed.

According to Shopee, in the last few months, the online shopping activities on the platform are the busiest on Wednesday and Friday. Vietnamese consumers have the habit of completing shopping before the weekend. They mostly shop at 12-21h, or take advantage of lunchtime and pre-bed hours to do shopping. 

Le Ha

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