Spending by consumers in Vietnam on technical consumer goods in the first quarter of this year surged 22.8 percent from the same period last year, a GkK report has found.

Vietnamese consumers spent more than VND36 trillion, or US$1.65 billion, on technical consumer goods, consisting of seven sectors, in the first three months of this year, the German market research firm said last week, citing findings from its TEMAX Vietnam Q1 2015 quarterly report.

TEMAX, or Technical Market Index, is an index developed by GfK to track the technical consumer goods markets.

The report said Vietnam’s spending on technical consumer goods “reached yet another high,” with all seven of the technical consumer goods sectors reporting positive gains.     

“Six of which were in a double-digit range,” it noted.

The sectors include photography, office equipment and consumables, consumer electronics, telecommunications, major domestic appliances, small domestic appliances, and information and technology.

Photography reported the largest growth among these sectors in Q1/2015, with total three-month sales of VND426 billion ($19.57 million), a 43.9 percent increase from Q1/2014.

The first three month of the year was also the photography sector’s best performing quarter since 2011, according to the report.

Telecommunications was Vietnam’s largest technical consumer goods sector in Q1/2015, generating sales of VND15.7 trillion ($721.18 million), primarily because of the healthy demand for mobile handsets.

Vietnamese consumers had higher demand for cooling products, washing machines and microwave ovens in the latest quarter, enabling the major domestic appliances sector to report significant year-on-year growth and total value of more than VND6.3 billion ($289,389).

The report also found that Vietnamese consumers spent 8.7 percent, or VND5.1 billion ($234,267), more in the information technology sector this quarter, with desktop computing products and media tablets registering healthy growth.

Although sales of mobile computing products – the sector’s largest segment– fell by 9.3 percent, this was compensated for by increased sales of desktop computers and media tablets by 26.5 percent and 25.6 percent, respectively.

A media tablet is a device based on a touchscreen display that facilitates content entry via an on-screen keyboard. The device has a screen with a diagonal dimension that is a minimum of five inches.

The GfK report also predicted that the healthy growth Vietnam’s technical consumer goods sectors enjoyed in the first quarter is not expected to continue in the second one.

The healthy sales in Q1/2015 were driven by the Lunar New Year holiday, which will be no longer a case in Q2/2014.

“However, as the weather gets warmer in the coming months, we anticipate that air conditioners, cooling products and electric fans will perform well,” it noted.

“Also, media-tablets and smartphones are expected to report healthy increases in sales due to high demand from consumers and aggressive discount programs for retailers.”

The findings are based on surveys carried out on a regular basis by the retail panel of GfK, the German firm said. The retail panel comprises data from over 425,000 retail outlets worldwide. 

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