Local consumers have paid more attention to Vsmart phones produced by VinSmart, the smartphone business of Vingroup, after the Vietnamese conglomerate announced that it would stop manufacturing handsets several days ago.

Over the past few days, the number of visitors looking for online information about Vsmart phone models has increased significantly, according to some mobile phone retail chains.

The number of visits to the virtual Vsmart booth on the website of the CellphoneS retail system rose 65 percent, said a representative of the electronics store chain.

A representative of FPT Shop, the retail chain of Vietnamese technology firm FPT, said that many customers have visited the online booths of Vsmart phone models, marking an increase of more than 18 percent on Sunday and over 16 percent on Monday compared with previous days.

The rising demand for the Vsmart phones has also generated better revenue for some retailers.

“Vsmart phone purchase orders made via our call center climbed 30 percent, focusing on the segment under VND4 million [US$172.5] such as Live 4, Active 3, and Joy 4 smartphones,” the CellphoneS salesperson said.

Retailer Di Dong Viet also recorded a surge of up to 40 percent in Vsmart phone purchases.

A Di Dong Viet representative attributed the sales hike to VinSmart’s preferential price offers.

Many customers have a hobby of collecting old phones, so they want to own Vsmart products in case they will be unable to find them after VinSmart shuts down the smartphone manufacturing business altogether.

It seemed that those customers misunderstood VinSmart’s announcement, which clearly stated that the Vingroup subsidiary would continue producing smartphones until the completion of the products’ life cycle.

That means the Vsmart phones will not disappear soon, the representative commented.

Meanwhile, a number of other retailers have seen a staggering contrast.

“So far, Vsmart phones have fetched revenue as good as that before the production stoppage announcement,” a salesman said, adding that a sudden rise in revenue is not in sight.

Another retailer shared that it even saw a 50-percent drop in Vsmart sales following the announcement.

“We just hope that our more competitive prices will help us clear up the large inventory as soon as possible,” the retailer said.

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