Coc Coc, the Hanoi-headquartered browser and search engine, will develop new features to meet the demand of its targeted users in suburban and rural areas, in the context of the increasing mobile phones penetration in Vietnam and the expansion of digital technology in all areas of life, Ms. Dao Thu Phuong, Deputy CEO of Coc Coc told the media gathering on December 22 in Hanoi.

Ms. Dao Thu Phuong and Mr. Nguyen Vu Anh, two Deputies CEO of Coc Coc in Vietnam.

Rural Vietnam is a prime market for growth, projected to be twice as fast as metropolitan areas. This is where over half of the country’s population resides - an untapped market with rising internet penetration.

According to the latest report “Vietnam’s Search for Tomorrow” released in October by Google, 77% of rural people now have internet access, and 91% use the internet daily. The internet has become a bridge to resources, products, and services that these users are accessing for the first time.

The report showed that the rural users choose Search as the key tool when making purchase decisions, with 45% of rural consumers using it to find information on products vs. traditional media (24%) and social media (27%). In fact, 77% of Vietnam rural users clicked on a search ad because of a relevant headline.

Rural users are considered as the major driving force to materialize the goal of Made-in-Vietnam search engine in the coming time. 

Coc Coc targets the Vietnamese users in suburban and rural areas. Photos: Nhat Minh

Plans for 2021

With the achievement of 13 million mobile users on both iOS and Android, Coc Coc has risen to the top four most popular mobile browsers in Vietnam and ranked 1st among the free apps on the App Store in November. 

According to the report by Statcounter, a web traffic analysis website, the market share of Coc Coc doubled that of the same period in 2019 and gained a larger piece from the search engine’s share giant Google (a drop from 94.4% to 89.9%) in August. From a zero-market share in 2013, the Vietnamese browser and search engine company Coc Coc ranked second after 7 years.

Coc Coc aims to reach 20% of the browser market share on desktops and 15% of the search engine market share on mobile devices by 2021.

This year, the engine has reached 25 million users including 4 million mobile ones. It missed its goal of 30 million mobile users for the whole year 2020, from 24 million in 2019, mainly due to the impacts of Covid-19. 

Coc Cok is estimated to gain an estimated VND235 billion (US$10.1 million) in revenue, an increase of more than 13% compared to 2019, recording a pre-tax profit of VND30 billion ($1.3 million). “This year marks the highest revenue and profit of the company since 2017,” Deputy CEO of Coc Coc Nguyen Vu Anh said.

By 2021, Coc Coc plans to launch the project Coc Coc Audience Network, as a platform connecting publishers and advertisers based on numerous users and outstanding technology. It is expected to be one of the browser's core activities for the coming years.