Last April, Vietnam applied a nationwide social distancing order for about two weeks. Accordingly, restaurants, bars, and non-essential businesses had to close. Mobile World had to temporarily close 600 stores, making April sales among the lowest of the year.

This created different consumption trends at that time in comparison to the present period, which is balancing epidemic prevention and economic development.

Last April, the demand for laptops increased dramatically due to social distancing, when people had to work and study from home. At the end of 2020, Mobile World's laptop revenue increased by more than 40% over the same period. The distributor Digiworld alone achieved a growth rate of 46%.

This urged FPT Shop to open laptop and mobile repair shops last September. FPT Shop and Mobile World also opened laptop centers across the country.

However, the demand for laptops in April this year was no longer as high as it was in the previous April, reducing revenue from laptops of Mobile World compared to last year.

Online business was also hit hard by the pandemic. Online revenue of Mobile World the first four months of 2021 is estimated at VND3,047 billion, down 7% year on year.

During the lockdown last year, physical stores had to close, and retailers all boosted online sales. When people wanted to buy phones, most of them had to order online. This led to a sharp increase in online revenue during this period, although the average revenue decreased. This year, stores did not have to close, so online sales dropped.

Electronic goods suffered from declining purchasing power, because major sports tournaments were not organized, as explained by Mobile World.

In early 2020, the demand for phones reached saturation levels and the impact of Covid-19 caused the growth of the phone chain of Mobile World to fall compared to the same period of 2019.

However, in the first four months of this year, the impact of Covid-19 decreased, plus iPhone revenue increased sharply. The sales of this product at both Mobile World and Dien May Xanh chains rose by 5% and 3%, respectively.

Hai Dang

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