Apple looks to status-hungry Vietnam for growth

FTP's F.Studio store is styled after Apple outlets in developed markets and sells iPhones on Hanoi Street in Vietnam. Photo / Wikipedia - calflier001

Bich Ngoc, who earns less than $60 a week and has a newborn son, cobbled together four months of savings to buy the latest iPhone so she could impress her colleagues who have older versions of the device.

"I like the iPhone because it is small, light and very delicate," said Ngoc, a 24-year-old accountant in Hanoi who purchased the device last week. "Everyone seems a bit jealous."

Apple is looking to consumers such as Ngoc in Vietnam and across Southeast Asia willing to spend more than two months salary on an iPhone or iPad, as it seeks sales amid competition with Samsung Electronics. Apple is tapping FPT, Vietnam's biggest listed information and communication technology company, to roll out retail outlets in major cities as part of a regional push.

"One of the biggest moves Apple is making is in Southeast Asia," Tim Bajarin, president of technology consulting firm Creative Strategies based in San Jose, California, said in a phone interview. "If you look at the numbers, Android has passed Apple in smartphones, and it has made huge strides in tablets this year."

Smartphones based on Android, which Google provides to hardware manufacturers for free, made up 78 per cent of the global industry in 2013, up from 66 per cent in 2012, according to Gartner.

Apple's iPhone was second with 16 per cent, down from 19 per cent. Apple's share of the global tablet market dropped to 36 per cent in 2013 from 53 per cent the year earlier, while Samsung jumped to 19 per cent in 2013 from 7 per cent, according to Gartner.

'Status symbol'

Apple products are popular in Vietnam, where a brand-savvy young population covets the instant recognition a slender iPhone brings, said Lam Nguyen, Ho Chi Minh City-based country director at International Data Corp. He predicts Vietnam smartphone sales will increase 56 per cent to about 12 million units in 2014, and Apple will get a good chunk of that.

"There are more and cheaper alternatives out there," Nguyen said in a phone interview. "This is about a relatively affordable status symbol. It's fashion."

Minimalist

Sales of iPhones in Vietnam soared 262 per cent in Apple's fiscal first half ended March 29, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said during a conference call with analysts April 23.

Michaela Wilkinson, a spokeswoman at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California declined to comment about the company's Vietnam and Southeast Asia retail strategy.

FPT's F.Studio stores, styled after Apple outlets in developed markets, feature minimalist interiors and English-speaking store clerks clad in black and trained by the iPhone-maker.

A sparsely appointed F.Studio with stark black and white tables displaying polished devices sits incongruously on a Hanoi street with blaring motorbikes and women in conical hats hawking lychees. Inside the store, sales staff handle the devices with the delicate touch of diamond sellers.

Vietnam focus

"Here I can trust the quality and get support from the staff," Vuong Ha, 41, said during a recent visit to the store. She held off buying her first iPhone until F.Studio opened in Hanoi for fear of buying a fake device, a common concern among Vietnamese consumers.

"I would not dare to spend this much money on an iPhone from another store," she said.

FPT last year qualified as the country's "premium" reseller, allowing it to sell Apple's range of products, from iPods to iPhones, CEO Bui Quang Ngoc said in an interview in his company's headquarters in Hanoi. For years Apple brushed off FPT's requests for a partnership, he said.

Apple's retail priorities were elsewhere, Ngoc said. "Then they started to focus on Vietnam," he said. "It's a big change for Apple. Southeast Asia is a big market."

As part of its increased focus on Southeast Asia, Apple also has retailing relationships similar to the one with FPT with local chains in countries including Malaysia and Thailand.

Regional sales

Apple made 26 per cent of its sales from Asia Pacific in its fiscal second quarter, with 20 per cent from the greater China region, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan. Japan, which isn't included in the Asia Pacific figures, represented 9 per cent of Apple's sales.

FPT's relationship with Apple will "allow them to generate residual success off of Apple's popularity," Patrick Mitchell, head of institutional sales at VinaSecurities JSC, said in a phone interview in Ho Chi Minh City.

"We have worked with other vendors like Oracle, IBM, HP, Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, etc, but Apple is very special," Ngoc said. "Apple people are very strict. It's not so easy working with Apple."

Before getting hired at F.Studio outlets, potential employees face multiple interviews then receive extensive training from FPT supervisors schooled by Apple representatives, FPT said.

Stringent demands of how its products are sold by overseas partners allows Apple to "control its brand," said Matthew Crabbe, Asia Pacific research director at Mintel Group Ltd in Kuala Lumpur.

Brand loyalty

Increasingly, the battle for brand loyalty is shifting to Southeast Asia, he said.

The Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board approved a preliminary application from Apple to open its first official store in Southeast Asia store, the government said earlier this year.

"China is a big market, but it's also a competitive and maturing market," Crabbe said in a phone interview. "There is a growing consumer economy in Southeast Asia. Apple understands if you are going to get in, get in quick. You have to establish yourself, engage with consumers. Things move rapidly."

- Bloomberg