Apple Store, Apple’s online retail system, is now ready to serve Vietnamese users, with customer care service using Vietnamese language. By choosing the Vietnam area on Apple.com, users now can order Apple’s products online.

VietNamNet has found differences in selling prices between the online Apple Store and Apple’s authorized resellers in Vietnam. iPhone 14 Pro 128GB, for example, is selling at VND27.99 million at Apple Store online, but is quoted at VND24.79 million at The Gioi Di Dong (Mobile World), and at VND24.78 million at FPT Shop.

Apple is offering free shipping to all orders from Vietnamese users. Buyers can choose different payment modes, from credit card, debit card and MoMo e-wallet, to payments via VISA and Mastercard, or payment by installment. 

Nguyen The Kha from FPT Shop & F.Studio by FPT thinks the online Apple Store is a milestone marking Apple’s comprehensive investment in the Vietnamese market, which will help boost market growth.

With the new move taken by Apple, Vietnamese customers benefit because they have more options and enjoy more benefits when buying Apple’s products. The opening of the online store shows Apple’s high appreciation of the Vietnamese market’s development.

Asked about the selling prices set by Apple Store online, which are higher than that quoted by other authorized resellers, Kha said Apple’s online store can attract Vietnamese customers in terms of price, delivery policy, return policy (buyers receive products if there are hardware errors), and technical services (support for data conversion, SIM and warranty).

In related news, eDiGi, one of Apple’s authorized resellers in Vietnam, announced its closure on May 17, just one day before the official opening of Apple Store online.

Launched in 2018, eDiGi invested by Imex Pan Pacific (IPPG) of Johnathan Hanh Nguyen, who is called ‘branded goods King’ in Vietnam. This was the first Apple standard store in Vietnam which satisfied both APR (Apple Premium Reseller) and ASP (Apple Service Provider).

The failure of eDiGi occurs when Vietnam’s mobile retail sector is facing great challenges with the sales of mobile products in Vietnam declining sharply, while the recovery does not occur until the third quarter this year.

Pursuing the ‘mono store’ model, the collapse of the first and only eDiGi has posed questions about the efficiency of the business model.

Hai Dang