Apple will open its online store in Vietnam on May 18, 2023. It will offer Apple products and provide customer and personalization services similar to physical stores. A team of specialists will give support in Vietnamese.

Some experts believe that Apple's move will threaten domestic retailers who are competing fiercely with each other in the home market. Some retail chains have even sold products at a loss of hundreds of thousands to millions of VND.

However, according to Apple Authorized Resellers (AAR), this won’t have a big impact on their businesses.

Nguyen The Kha from FPT Shop said he only provides information as an Apple authorized retailer in Vietnam.

FPT is looking forward to the launch of the Apple website in Vietnam, which marks a milestone showing the manufacturer’s investment in the domestic market. This will boost market growth, with big partners such as FPT Shop and F.Studio by FPT. 

The final beneficiaries will be Vietnamese customers who will have more choices in purchasing Apple products. Opening an online store in the domestic market shows that Apple sees the development potential of the Vietnamese market. 

The online Apple Store in Vietnam will set a standard price frame for reference, especially when selling prices are fluctuating heavily in the domestic market. 

The move will help domestic retailers change their operation and improve customers’ experiences.

The manager of the FPT shop is confident about the competitiveness of his chain with its competitive prices and many years of experience.

Huy Nguyen from the CellPhoneS chain said the online Apple Store will not pose a big problem compared with the online channels of domestic retail chains, or pure online channels such as e-commerce platforms.

Currently, revenue from online sales of retail chains accounts for 15-20 percent of all of their sales. The success of the manufacturer’s online store will depend on product prices in comparison with large domestic retailers.

Other AARs, such as Di Dong Viet, Minh Tuan Mobile, ShopDunk and even The Gioi Di Dong (Mobile World), believe that Apple’s move won’t have a big impact on the market. 

It is highly possible that Apple only aims at branding when setting up the online store as it is doing in Singapore and Thailand. 

Apple Stores are also open there, but they have not affected Mono Stores and existing retail chains. 

But, Mai Trieu Nguyen, director of Mai Nguyen chain, an AAR, said the move by Apple will surely affect domestic retailers, though it is still unclear how much.

Samsung is also stepping up its stores in Vietnam and boosting sales, including online stores. Many retail chains are struggling because of the move.

As for Apple, he believes that it will act differently. It moves very fast and penetrates markets step by step. For example, with the online store, Apple may run a program that allows customers to pre-order iPhone 15. Those who successfully preorders this product iPhone 15 will be sure that they will get products with a clear number.

In 2022, many authorized resellers affirmed that they obtained huge numbers of orders, but later admitted they did not have products to deliver, which then disappointed users.

According to Nguyen, iPhone buyers are mostly high income earners and they want to possess the latest-generation of iPhones as soon as possible, therefore, they would use the pre-order right if they can. The retailers who have enough products to deliver, will be the winners in the market. Those, who accept to sell products at lower prices, but cannot deliver products soon, will fail.

So, Apple will hold the upper hand. Though it only sells products online, it can satisfy customers’ demand.

If so, retailers will ‘lie still’, and as products remain unsalable, they will have to slash retail prices or sell at a loss to compete with each other. The selling prices at sale agents would be VND2-3 million lower than Apple. However, by that time, high income earners will have bought products already. Therefore, the number of products sales agents can sell will be inconsiderable.

The same thing is happening with Samsung high-end products. Retailers just can sell the products for 2-3 weeks, and after that, they have to slash retail prices.

Nguyen went on to say that opening an online store is just the first step, which will be followed by the opening of a physical Apple Store.

Duy Anh