Besides adjusting its distribution policy and prices, Apple is supporting authorized dealers to expand their exclusive store model to increase its brand coverage in the Vietnamese market.

Apple products have been favored in the Vietnamese market for long. However, consumers still have difficulty approaching these products with their general income level. For this reason, they are mostly looking for hand-carried or used products, which is not encouraged by Apple in all markets.

In order to change this habit, the Cupertino-based company has adjusted many policies in favor of their consumers in Southeast Asian countries in the past 2-3 years.

Two of the positive changes are the policy and the distribution price.

The genuine products sold in Vietnam have good prices when compared to other markets in the region, maybe even more affordable than in the U.S..

This directly hits the hand-carried products as their prices are not significantly better than those of the genuine devices, which also encourages consumers to select gadgets sold by authorized dealers, boosting the revenue of genuine products.

On the other hand, the distribution policy also becomes more favorable to all market participants who have links to Apple. 

The American technology company has signed authorized cooperation agreements with many Vietnamese companies to allow them to open showrooms, offer customers the chance to experience standard spaces, and expand the number of business locations.

A series of Mono-store chains, or small stores where only Apple products are sold, have appeared in many provinces and cities in Vietnam in the past two years, which is evidence of the success of its brand coverage increase strategy.

Currently, only APR and AAR Shops are available in Vietnam while official Apple Stores, opened by Apple, have not been yet. 

APR and AAR Shops are two models of authorized stores run by dealers, which must meet Apple's standards. In particular, the AAR Shop has a small size with an area of ​​​​100-120 square meters, while the APR Shop requires a large area with more stringent standards. Most of the authorized stores in Vietnam are in the form of AAR and only two major distribution chains, Mobile World and F.Studio by FPT, run APR stores.

It seems that Apple is ‘pampering’ Vietnamese consumers as it has recently been reported that there are some areas with a super small size to display Apple devices in the stores of Mobile World – the owner of TopZone, which specializes in Apple products.

With such a narrow display area featuring merely two display tables and one display shelf, this area is labeled TopZone, which is a trademark under the APR standard of Apple. This has never happened before because Apple requires very rigorous design spaces, the U.S. company is known for its ‘strictness,’ and no brand in Vietnam has satisfied it as most APR stores have to adhere to global guidelines.

Given a super small model, such TopZone ‘mini-stores,’ if approved, will be easily multiplied nationwide due to the strength of Mobile World’s distribution system.

A Mobile World representative has confirmed to local media the existence of the mini-sized TopZone in the supermarkets owned by their corporation. The Vietnamese company and Apple are experimenting with a new model for the stores with a small area but located in the center, the representative said.

“This form is called 'Shop in Shop,’ which is a separate Apple model for Mobile World,” the representative added.

“This model has not been complete and is still in the trial period."

He also shared that a standard model will undergo many different tests and have to be adapted many times to be considered complete.

Currently, the corporation is implementing ‘Shop in Shop’ differently in two stores, but all are just the first version. 

Before the model can be expanded, the design team will have a lot of work to do.