Vietnam’s online spending is expected to increase 3.7-fold this year to US$25 billion by 2025, according to the latest report “Digital Consumers of Tomorrow, Here Today” conducted by Facebook, Bain & Company.

Source: “Digital Consumers of Tomorrow, Here Today” report conducted by Facebook, Bain & Company. Screenshot: NM

Conducted online in May, the report polled nearly 17,000 digital consumers across six markets in the region: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, of which the respondents had made online purchases in at least two product categories in the past three months.

From 2018 to 2020, the number of digital consumers in the region increased by around 60 million, a compounded annual growth rate of 12%. Almost 70% of the 443 million people in six markets are now digital consumers. 

While growth in neighboring countries averaged 5% to 9%, Vietnam’s digital consumer population rose 6.5% in 2020. Vietnam has 49 million digital consumers, which represents 65% of its estimated total population (15 years old and above), with 61% switching to purchasing mostly online in the past year.

Source: “Digital Consumers of Tomorrow, Here Today” report conducted by Facebook, Bain & Company. Screenshot: NM

As contactless and home-based consumption expected to continue amidst the global pandemic, the Southeast Asian consumers now appeared more receptive to online purchases across several product categories. About 46% of Vietnamese respondents cited online as the most used channel, a 1.4-fold increase from a year earlier. 

“Digital Consumers of Tomorrow, Here Today” report conducted by Facebook, Bain & Company. Screenshot: NM

Vietnamese consumers are not just spending more online as forecast in 2019, they’re also buying into more categories online. Vietnamese users purchased an average of 5.2 categories in 2020 compared to 3.9 categories in 2019. Contactless and home-consumption habits are expected to continue despite the easing of physical distancing measures.