VietNamNet Bridge - Goods which were considered unreasonably expensive in the past have become more popular in Vietnam because of the increase in the number of wealthy people.

Wealthy Vietnamese spend more money on luxury goods

At a fruit shop in the center of district 1, HCM City, one kilogram of grapes sold for VND1.7 million, while a couple of large peaches sold for VND650,000. Despite the sky high prices, the products still sold well. Prior to that, the shop had sold five bunches of Ruby Roman grapes at VND11 million.

My Linh, the owner of the shop, said customers are choosy about service and product quality, not price.

Spending on food is an important index which shows the prosperity of a society.

Dao Thi Ha Vy, CEO of Gourmetfood, said she has confidence in the medium- and high-end market, which will be expanding thanks to the increasingly high demand of high-income people.

Along with Australia’s abalone and Alaska lobster, Iberico salted pork is now being sold to Vietnamese.

Wealth-X recently released World Ultra Wealth Report showing individuals with assets of $30 million and more. The report pointed out that Vietnam is among 10 countries with the highest growth rate of super-rich people, 12.7 percent per annum. With the growth rate, Vietnam ranks after Bangladesh (17.3 percent) and China (13.4 percent).

In 2011, when luxury brands were still unfamiliar to Vietnamese, Johnathan Hanh Nguyen began setting up a chain of luxury fashion shops on Nguyen Hue Boulevard in HCMC.

Now, the businessman is called the ‘branded goods King’. IPP Group, managed by Johnathan and his wife, is the distributor of 96 leading brands, from fashion, footwear to handbags, cosmetics and watches.

In 2017, Business of Fashion listed the couple among 500 powerful portraits of the world’s fashion industry.

Last year, the two luxury watch models 'The Bird Repeater' and 'The Charming Bird' found owners in Vietnam, sold at VND13 billion and VND11 billion, respectively, according to the representative of Jaquet Droz distributor.

Another distributor revealed that his company sold a Vacheron watch at VND9 billion and a Chopard at VND14 billion to Vietnamese buyers. 

According to Knight Frank 2016 HNI Report, about 13,000 Vietnamese had assets of one million dollars and higher. It predicted that the number would increase by 139 percent to 30,338 by 2025.

However, the real figure could be higher than predicted. Knight Frank predicted Vietnam would have two dollar billionaires by 2025. But it already has four.

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