VietNamNet Bridge – It was multifunctional cheap products which created the bustle in the mobile phone market in 2010.

The overall panorama

The statistics from a market survey firm show that 1.03 million mobile phones were sold all over the country in November 2010, an increase of 28 percent in comparison with 804,825 products in November 2009. Meanwhile, 11.3 million products had been sold by November 2010. Since the average price of mobile phone increased in 2010, the total turnover of the year increased considerably by 40 percent in comparison with 2009.

In HCM City, the biggest mobile device market in Vietnam, 268,190 products sold in November 2010, up by 18 percent in comparison with November 2009.

However, the city remains the biggest market in Vietnam which consumes 26-29 percent of products sold. Meanwhile, Hanoi is the second biggest market which accounts for 16-18 percent of products sold.

Regarding the role of the retail network, two years ago, retail chains accounted for 36 percent of the market share in quantity, while the figure had dropped to 30 percent by November 2010. If considering turnover, the market share held by retail chains has dropped from 35 percent in November 2009 to 31 percent in November 2010. As such, in the last year, the market share held by retail chains has not increased even though retain chains opened many new retail points or launched many promotion campaigns to attract customers.

Multifunctional cheap products the first choice

In 2010, the products priced between 500,000 dong and one million dong were still the big choice of customers (25-30 percent of sold products were multifunctional low cost mobile phones). Meanwhile, 45 percent of sold products were priced less than one million dong. If counting the market segment of products priced less than two million dong, the market share would be approximately 70 percent.

The volume of sold products priced at six million dong and more increased by 4-6 percent and had a value increase of 22-27 percent. Meanwhile, the figures were one percent and four percent for the products priced at 10 million dong or more.

The sales of mobile phone products with MP3 music functions have increased continuously in the last two consecutive years, especially in 2010. These products only accounted for 50 percent of the total sold products in November 2008, and the figure soared to 62 percent in November 2009 and then to 79 percent in November 2010. The popularity of mobile phones with MP3 music functions is close to the popularity of mobile phones with colorful screens (85 percent of market share by November 2010).

The series of products with Bluetooth connection have also seen sales increasing from 55 percent to 60 percent in the number of sold products. The mobile phones with cameras have also become more favorite which account for 67 percent of sold products. Meanwhile, the mobile phones with two cameras accounted for nine percent.

Though no official figure has been released, mobile phone dealers have affirmed that mobile phones with wi-fi capabilities have received special attention from the public with an increasingly high market share. It is because mobile phone models have become cheaper, thus becoming affordable to customers. Even the brand names which have just appeared recently in the domestic market such as Wellcom, F-mobile, K-Touch, have also launched products with wi-fi capabilities. However, the most outstanding event in 2010 was the appearance of Nokia C3 with wi-fi, priced at less than 2.8 million dong. In order to compete with Nokia, other manufacturers like Samsung or LG also launched a series with wi-fi and sold them for less than three million dong.

Source: Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon