The mobile phone market, especially the smart phone market, will continue to witness the discounting of products as manufacturers race to introduce new products and retailers race to gain market share.

Before the two latest smart phones were brought out by Samsung Corporation-the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge – which was available for sale in Vietnam beginning April 11, FPT Shop retail system had adjusted prices for many products by decreasing their price by between 1.1 million VND (50.6 USD) and 2.7 million VND (124.2 USD).

Nguyen The Kha, deputy director of F.Studio by FPT, said fierce competition among retailers drove F.Studio by FPT to develop a promotional programme for customers purchasing iPhone 5s on installment plans. Customers now pay 5.6 million VND (257.6 USD) in advance and pay the remainder at zero percent interest rate for six months.

The gioi di dong, another giant retailer that owns 350 retail outlets, also uses the same strategy for its smart phones by cutting prices of Samsung Galaxy Note 4 by 2.5 – 3.5 million VND (115 – 161 USD) and Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime G530 by 800,000 VND (36.8 USD).

Vo Le Tam Thanh, market analyst for client device research at IDC Vietnam, said rapid price reductions have resulted in the quickening penetration of smart phones in Vietnam.

An IDC survey showed that 28.7 million mobile phones were shipped to Vietnam last year, 13 percent more than in 2013.

Smart phones enjoyed the highest growth, as shipments reached 11.6 million units, a year-on-year growth of 57 percent, and are expected to eclipse feature phones this year.

According to an analysis of IDC Vietnam, even though low-price smart phones are the main driving force for growth, consumption of high-end smart phones contributed remarkably to the turnover.

For example, 200 FPT Shop stores nationwide sold 800 Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smart phones on the day the phones went on sale.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are sold for 16.59 million VND (790 USD) and 19.99 million VND (951.9 USD), and the two latest smart phones brought in some 15 billion VND (690,000 USD) for FPT Shop in only one day.

Such figures have revealed the high demand among domestic consumers for new smart phones.

Contributing to the high consumption of the two new smart phones were the attractive promotions offered by FPT Shop.

The continuous release of new smart phones has resulted in increasingly harsh competitiveness in the smart phone market, which put pressure on retailers to sell old models, while promoting and selling new models at the same time.

Therefore, IDC Vietnam forecast that there would be additional discounting programmes in the future.

VNA