Vietnamese consumers shop via Facebook at nearly twice global average

The figures came from the Holiday Shopping Behavior Study, conducted by Meta, Facebook's parent company, in collaboration with Ipsos, one of the world's largest market research and public opinion groups, across 18 markets worldwide.

The study found that 63 percent of Vietnamese consumers use Facebook and 58 percent use Facebook Messenger to connect with sellers during peak shopping periods, well above the global averages of 33 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

It also showed that Vietnam's peak shopping season has expanded into a continuous period, beginning with major discount days such as October 10, November 11 and December 12, followed by year-end holidays and culminating in the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, or Tet.

Tet remains the biggest shopping season of the year, with 85 percent of Vietnamese consumers participating, followed by New Year's Day at 66 percent and the December 12 shopping festival at 44 percent.

Shopping through conversations, or messaging, has also become a common habit among Vietnamese consumers.

According to Kantar data, 61.2 percent of Vietnamese Internet users message sellers every day, while 82.8 percent say messaging is their preferred way of communicating with businesses.

Still, consumers are becoming more demanding about the quality of responses they receive.

Some 85.6 percent want personalized promotional information, while 80.8 percent value recommendations from AI assistants.

At the same time, 70.2 percent say they are annoyed by receiving too many spam or irrelevant messages from brands.

Khoi Le, Meta's country director in Vietnam, said the Vietnamese market is highly dynamic, with consumers particularly accustomed to interacting with businesses through messaging and expecting immediate responses tailored to their needs.

Amid the huge volume of interactions during major shopping campaigns, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) assistants are being viewed as key tools to help businesses, particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises, respond promptly while optimizing operating costs.