VietNamNet Bridge – This year online shopping, particularly shopping through Facebook, has been very popular in Vietnam, especially among office employees.

Goods for Tet advertised on Facebook.

Having to work until the 27th day of the last lunar month, two days before the Tet holiday, Ms. Nguyen Hong Van, an office worker in Hanoi, did not have time for shopping. She chose to buy goods online.

Van said this sales channel was very effective, especially through Facebook. The commodity is abundant in variety, from confectionery, jam to fruit and clothes. In particular, regional specialties are diverse, which are very rare in supermarkets and traditional markets.

According to Van, products sold on Facebook with listed prices so buyers are not afraid of being cheated. Before purchasing, Van often compares prices of the same products at various facebook pages to choose the cheapest. She said the goods sold on Facebook are generally cheaper than supermarkets. However, the buyer has to pay shipping charges (about VND20,000-VND30,000/trip).

Ms. Dang Hong Anh in Hanoi also decided to go shopping for Tet holiday via Facebook. Just taking advantage of 2 hours of lunch break, she bought a lot of items for Tet such as grapefruit, orange, dried fruit, confectionery and food products such as spring rolls, pork pie and banh chung....

Using this modern form of shopping, customers can pay for the goods through banking accounts or by cash on delivery.

Hong Anh said purchasing goods on Facebook through familiar people can help avoid fake and low-quality products.

Ms.Bui Thi Thanh, who runs a dried vegetableand fruit shop on Lang Road, Dong Da district, Hanoi said, Facebook is a more effective channel than direct selling, especially in the end of the year. In the last month, sales via Facebook iwere five times higher than sales at the store.

Thanh said selling goods via Facebook also saves costs for shop leasing and the seller can earn extra income from shipping charges.

However, some customers are cheated as the real products are not like the advertising images on the net.

E-marketing expert Nguyen Phan Anh said that sales through Facebook was a trend of the times but that consumers shopping through this channel should be very careful in choosing prestigious sellers.

Le Ha