Những đặc điểm chính trong văn hóa tiêu dùng tại việt NAM e

NHỮNG ĐẶC ĐIỂM CHÍNH TRONG VĂN HĨA TIÊU DÙNG TẠI VIỆT : What are the characteristics of consumer culture in Vietnam? Analyze the impact of cultural factors on: - The general economy - Markets for certain products (ex/import) - TABLE OF CONTENTS B02 MBA Nguyen Thi Cam Nhung INTRODUCTION Entering WTO has made Vietnam face the requirement to change overall to fit into the general situation of the world The change has proved to be very clear in the economic, political, cultural fields Within the scale of this topic, we are going to study the significant changes in the consumer culture of Vietnam In the current and near future, there has been, are and will be huge changes in buying habits of consumers in Vietnam, shifting from traditional shopping (at the grocery store, retail stores, markets) to shopping entertainment Consumers will gradually come to supermarkets, convenient stores to compare and to look at the products, as well as to choose which to buy when the foreigner products are becoming more varied and competitive This is also a good sign for business in Vietnam because there are more opportunities to compete, exchange, combine, and improve the service quality in their enterprises Besides, this is a great advantage for consumers because they will have more choices and get to use the products and quality which have the quality that suits their own wishes I/ THE CONCEPT OF CONSUMER CULTURE According to researchers around the world, culture is understood in two cases: Firstly, culture is understood to be anything created by man (which was not available in nature) and transmitted from generation to generation, and learned as well as accumulated by people Secondly, culture is understood to be the culture of the community Each nation produces some products - (valuable) tangible and intangible things - and the way on how to use them is unique based on their own historical background Therefore, the production and consumption method is a cultural expression Consumer culture of a nation is the way that nation consumes products B02 MBA Nguyen Thi Cam Nhung The consumer culture of Asia Not long ago, after interviewing 10,502 people in 24 countries and territories in Asia-Pacific, Africa, the Middle East about consumer subject, the international credit institution - MasterCard Worldwide, has announced the survey results in which, in terms of prioritizing for dining and entertainment, Vietnam ranked first with 86%, followed by South Korea with 78%, Hong Kong (China) with 75% Vietnam also ranked first in terms of consuming without calculating with the rate of 63%, while South Korea and Australia share the same rate of 59% What are the different characteristics of the Asian market and Asian middle class consumers to that of other places? In terms of the way of choosing, they are just like other middle-class consumers everywhere It means that when purchasing products, they consider between price and quality; they want a price not too high and the quality should not be too bad However, Asians have specific criteria which are different from that of the Europeans For example, when buying shampoo, Thai women pay attention to the fragrance and packaging quality, while Vietnamese people not care a lot about those Is this difference due to the fact that Vietnam and Thailand are in different stages of development? It is true in some senses Consumers in Vietnam will possibly pay more attention to aesthetics aspect when they have more money How advertisements and Western values affect these markets? In developed markets such as Thailand and Malaysia, the effect is quite powerful The famous brands of the West and Japan all have advertisement here This will make these markets integrate more rapidly Nevertheless, the advertisement must pay attention to local factors, as the products need to prioritize consumers’ preferences of each country How does the difficult economy affect the way Asian consumers spend their money? They not really change the way they consume They will not buy cheaper products but will be pickier when choosing If consumers believe B02 MBA Nguyen Thi Cam Nhung that the product is worth the money, they will buy it But if they think that the product is not quite the real worth of money, they will switch to buy from other manufacturers Consumers also tend to purchase discounted products more What is the attitude of Asian towards products made in foreigner countries, are they loyal to any certain brand? Generally, the concern about products’ origin connects to the fact that whether or not they believe in domestically produced goods They also distinguish producers’ origin and manufacturers that make products For example, in China, people not trust the quality of domestic products The number of consumers of foreign firms is always higher, including foreign firms with factory located in China In some other countries, goods from the developing countries are allowed normally In Vietnam, Thai clothes might be deemed to be of good quality But it is only the outlook of the general population Consumers are loyal to some brands than a certain brand The fact here is that they did not see much difference between the well-known companies, so they choose between two or three firms rather than only loyal to a firm Loyalty is usually out of habit rather than being convinced In short, Asians prefer the products manufactured exclusively for them Some thought that they have been westernized, but there is less and less of those think like it On the other hand, the consumer does not think that using domestic products mean anti-Western If a foreign company can convince that a lot of Asians have purchased the product, or this is also an Asian product, it will be accepted more easily.1 Consumer Culture in Vietnam As we know, the concept of consumer culture of a nation is the way how that nation consumes its own products Therefore, Vietnamese products consumer culture is the way how Vietnamese people consume Vietnamese goods (here we Nguồn: www.baomoi.com B02 MBA Nguyen Thi Cam Nhung only refer to material goods (objects) and not including intangible products (spiritual products) The argument of Academian – Culture Prof.Dr Tran Ngoc Them about Vietnam’s consumer culture is as followed: In consumption, Vietnam has a very important characteristic of rice agriculture which is to prioritize the fame Vietnamese people live in the same community wants to be equally good to others, but in fact everyone wants to be better than others Everyone is eager to show off the richness – though they might not be really rich to that level, but still trying to appear rich Because they crave for fame, they will follow others’ doing (agricultural culture is to imitate, while industrial culture is to calculate and consider) In this era of the marketing-style of "use famous brand products to prove yourself" – people who follow famous brands still lack a certain quality, or rather, lack of their own taste The social economist Ton That Nguyen Thiem has said “The special characteristic of an emerging country, especially in the countries which just open up is that, generally, people who can afford to consume and pay often confuse between two concepts: cost and value They consider high cost products to be of high value.” It can be said that the period of "long last goods is the best" has passed; we now have more options for goods from economical to luxury Therefore, the consumer trend of “using brand to prove your style" of high-income world are being transferred to young consumers, especially middle class They are willing to spend huge sums of money for the “unique” item to show their own personality and their difference from the crowd, the products are such as mobile phones, cars, technology items able to show the level of owner, whether its utility sometimes is not really needed Many economists have also said that, in order to build a consumer culture of Vietnam, besides a strategy to compete B02 MBA Nguyen Thi Cam Nhung with other countries to gain advantage firstly in our home market by producing products of high quality in Vietnam, it is also important to have a respected consumer attitude, a love for the goods of Vietnam That depends on the perception, thinking, and actions of all of us 2.1 Old consumer culture’s characteristics of Vietnam The characteristic of old consumer culture of Vietnam is the habit of shopping in traditional markets with the motto "long last goods are the best." With a total of nearly 8300 markets at the moment, we can say that averagely, each of communes and wards in our country has accounted for one of the market Due to the old consumer habits with the traditional concept to have market just outside the door, eating and buying just outside the door, the service is not appreciated and did not considered to be too important Here we can see that the consumer culture in our time and at the present time still lies in a "convenience" of distance (not too far from shopping, not need to parking or wait for the counter, instead of that, buying just by stopping on the street or when playing, to exercising) Besides, by doing that, we have a choice to bargain and exchange more easily This consumer style is really suitable for many levels of society (farmers, intellectuals, small business ) and is easily accepted; it has become a habit, the "culture" bearing the consumers image of Vietnam 2.2 New consumer culture’s characteristics of Vietnam After joining the WTO, we have changed so much in the fields of culture, economics, and politics; and in particular we are aiming to build a new consumer culture According to the Institute for Social Development Consultant (National University of Ho Chi Minh City), the new consumer culture in Vietnam will include 03 basic characteristics: Consumption based in Value – Smart Consumption - Responsible Consumption 2.2.1 Consumption based in Value B02 MBA Nguyen Thi Cam Nhung In the new Consumer culture of Vietnam, consumers will not wait passively in looking for value in goods – services, instead of that, they will become active in "ordering" with producers the products suitable to the standards on which they require To demonstrate the value of a brand, the enterprise need to clarify at once contents that consumer community can accept and recognize: Product quality Social responsibility - Business culture Consuming based in value is the behavior to choose good product and services which are reliable, affordable and can satisfy the highest individual needs of consumers That means the consumer to use the value of the product or service with which to meet their specific needs It is an active force, with real power, and helps nourish and develop the enterprise, expressing the sense of responsibility for social and country development When consumers choose to buy the Value in the products, it also means that they have promoted the business to create other value Thus, selecting a product is selecting a company; consumers need to analyze the company before choosing to buy products A new consumer culture in Vietnam should follow the principle in which, value does not only bring direct benefits to consumers, but also act as a powerful force promoting enterprises to constantly create values for community In other words, consumption can affect the enterprises producing goods in accordance with the requirements of the value set by consumers At the same time, through the core content of consumer culture, companies can find their way to develop appropriately with the expectations and interests of the community The philosophy of "Consumption creates values" also poses a new argument of the correlation between consumption and production: each consuming behavior indirectly contributes a personal value into the general value system of the society 2.2.2 Smart Consumption B02 MBA Nguyen Thi Cam Nhung Smart consumption is the consumption behavior based on cognitive thinking, on what consumers know, what they understand; is the consumption in which consumers gather complete information of the product, the enterprise to make the right decisions, instead of being affected by the other consumers; in order to protect their own best interest, community and the society 2.2.3 Responsible consumption Responsible consumption is a highly social consumption behavior Responsible consumers are those who choose the products and services not just to satisfy their personal interests, but also know how to choose the goods of the enterprises that are responsible to society, contributing to economic development along with improving the quality of life of the community and society Besides, they should also know how to prove their ultimate authority in punishing enterprises which violate consumer rights and the law Responsible consumption doesn’t merely mean just to enjoy Responsible consumption should be an integral part of responsible business The customers themselves should be the factor driving manufacturers and service providers to change the concept of trade The consumers themselves should be the driving force in supporting environmental friendly business direction The consumer community should support the thought and movement about using eco-friendly products of companies and will reunite, share information and punish those doing business with dishonesty and lack virtue II/ THE IMPACT OF CONSUMER CULTURE IN VIETNAM The impact of culture factor to Vietnam’s economy Today not only the economist but also the social scientists agree that culture is both the objective and motivation of the socio-economic development The impact of culture on the economy is very large and complex In the system of cultural values, the cultural and spiritual and intangible cultural values have a B02 MBA Nguyen Thi Cam Nhung very strong and common impact on business in particular, and on the economy generally, through a lot of different variables, which can be divided into two groups - The first group, include a group of variables such as: the level of ability in using technical innovations, scientific discoveries in the fields of social production, the educational and technical knowledge level of workers; the level of generalizing education and culture in people The characteristic of these variables is that they not exist in the so-called "cultural environmental factors" in the system of elements in the business environment of enterprises, instead, they are legalized or institutionalized in the forms of variables of the legal environment; the science environment, engineering and technology environment, or population environment and demographic environment - The second group, include many variables such as: languages; the symbols; religions; methods in using time, space; the concepts of friendship; feelings; lifestyle; traditions, customs, taboos etc Generally, in theory and in practical reality, it is the variables of this second group that are officially classified and considered as component parts which created the real content for the element of "cultural environment" for business and the economy in general The impact of culture on the economy is the directly impact and it affects the behavior of the business entity or the behavior of the market activist For example, the etiquette, the ways of talking of the culture influenced the market entities will be brought with them into the process of communication, and negotiation with customers In this case, culture has directly affected or influenced the fourth type of marketing tools-the mixed promotion tool aiming at communication B02 MBA Nguyen Thi Cam Nhung Compared with the direct impact, the indirect impact of culture is more common and has a more widespread scale of influence The cultural values are transmitted through units such as families, religious organizations, social organizations, schools, etc from which affects the buyer then act as a factor determining on measures to promote business activities of the seller The impact of culture to the buyer does not only focus on their needs but also is expressed through the behavior towards themselves, towards others, towards the existing social entities, towards nature and the universe All those things have impact on the general economic measures The impact of the culture factor to online market in Vietnam As we have studied and grasped the characteristics of the new consumer culture of Vietnamese: Consumption based on values – Smart consumption Responsible Consumption This has been proved very clear recently; as consumers are becoming increasingly intelligent and focus on the true value and are responsible for their consumption through the online market with shopping sites such as cucre / muachung / nhommua / hotdeal / muare / enbac / Vatgia… According to the latest research by Kantar Media, Vietnam currently has 77% of population using and surfing the internet everyday These are some highlights which can be drawn from the survey about online shopping habits and characteristics of consumers in Vietnam, led by Mr Xavier Depouilly - Director of business development and customer services of Kantar Media Vietnam This also proved that the online "culture" is becoming closer to the culture and people of Vietnam It is a positive signal for the online market of Vietnam It can be explained that the more the rate people using and surfing internet, the closer consumers get to online service providers B02 MBA Nguyen Thi Cam Nhung 10 In addition, Kantar’s survey has also shown that there are some interesting characteristics of online shopping in The survey showed that young people aged 15-24, is the most active group in online shopping Categorized by marital status, single people tend to shop online more than those who were married In terms of gender, although there is some difference between male and female proportions participating in buying different group of products, the gap was insignificant It is notable that the percentage of men buying clothing online is larger than that of women (it might be due to the fact that women prefer to take a real look at the products?) Meanwhile, the ratio of women buying DVDs, electronics online is not much less than that of men The group of products most bought online is clothes (35%), far ahead of the next following group of shoes with 14% Next are the groups: Mobile phones and accessories (12%), computer and/or equipment (8%), books (7%)… B02 MBA Nguyen Thi Cam Nhung 11 With the above interesting survey, we can see that the online consumer culture of Vietnamese is growing, expanding, and expressing very clearly the new consumer characteristics: Value - Smart - Responsibility However, if we put into serious consideration about online consumption, Vietnamese people are not yet ready for online shopping due to the old habits of buying/selling (look in real life, get a real touch on the items purchased, existing doubt about the products and the quality ), and more importantly, online payment method also discourages consumers since 90,8% of the payment in Vietnam was made through cash; the online transfer still make consumers worried (whether it is safe, whether the money will reach the seller ) With the above reasons, although the characteristics of the new consumer culture focus on the practical element with the modern slogan "reducing the gap between customers and suppliers both in terms of space and time", it hasn’t actually become "an indispensable dish" of Vietnamese consumers since the old consumption habits still exist on the way of thinking and behaving of the majority of Vietnamese III/ CONCLUSIONS The consumption style of Vietnamese consumers has changed much since Vietnam switched to the market economy Previously, in the subsidy period, Vietnamese consumers did not have many options to choose from Today, they have more options for goods from the ordinary to luxury types The B02 MBA Nguyen Thi Cam Nhung 12 city people seems to have gotten used to purchasing goods in supermarkets, shopping online, using ATM and card payment and start to have the demand for quality goods, as well as safe food in recent years The trend of preferring foreign goods and neglecting domestic products has been growing Moreover, many businesses still have the principle of putting quick profit at the top priority, doing anything for high profits regardless of the legal principles, which created a very speedy change making consumers get carried away and not have time to think about their own consumption behavior Therefore, the behavior of Vietnamese consumers hasn’t changed in terms of nature By looking at the behavior and trends of Vietnamese consumers, we can see that, in order to build a foundation for consumer culture, it is required to have a corresponding process of economic development, as well as the perfection process of the customers which is: Learn how to spend their money appropriately and wisely, to protect themselves and say no to the unreal values B02 MBA Nguyen Thi Cam Nhung 13 ... business in Vietnam because there are more opportunities to compete, exchange, combine, and improve the service quality in their enterprises Besides, this is a great advantage for consumers because... aesthetics aspect when they have more money How advertisements and Western values affect these markets? In developed markets such as Thailand and Malaysia, the effect is quite powerful The famous... of the West and Japan all have advertisement here This will make these markets integrate more rapidly Nevertheless, the advertisement must pay attention to local factors, as the products need to