As customers have been searching for velvet pine trees for Christmas decoration, vendors on e-commerce platforms across Vietnam have earned big by selling materials for making these seasonal adornment items.

As per data collected by Ho Chi Minh City-based e-commerce data analysis firm YouNet ECI’s EcomHeat platform from 2.6 million stores and over 16,000 brands across four e-commerce sites Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, and TikTok Shop, the DIY Christmas tree trend gains traction on TikTok due to its simplicity, freshness, and budget friendliness.

Social media discussions on “making your own velvet pine tree” have fueled this trend, with over 31,000 participants engaging in more than 52,200 discussions on various platforms from November 1 to December 12, including over 19,700 discussions recorded during December 4-10.

Short-format videos also contribute significantly, with over 31,200 discussions, constituting 60 percent of total discussions on TikTok.

According to EcomHeat, Shopee and Lazada customers have been looking for “materials for making velvet pine trees at home” from the beginning of November. 

The Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of these products has increased steadily.

For instance, the “DIY set for making a Christmas tree made of foldable zinc string and velvet” listed by a vendor named lamhongthai on Shopee in October experienced a 164-percent GMV increase in the third week of November compared to the previous week.

EcomHeat also highlighted the sales performance of stores such as bibi90, muatat.shop, and bobin.store, which sold 1,000-3,000 velvet pine tree sets with prices ranging from VND30,000 ($1.24) to VND60,000 ($2.47) each between early November and mid-December.

Notably, wormshop_03, a Shopee vendor, stood out by selling 6,921 sets of materials for making velvet pine trees, generating over VND380 million ($15,666) in revenue from November 1 to December 12.

Remarkably, revenue from this product constituted 91 percent of this vendor’s total revenue during the same period.

Strategic success

According to EcomHeat, successful businesses embracing this trend have made meticulous preparation.

For instance, lamhongthai store had previously introduced sets of tulips made from the same material at the end of June, gradually cultivating a dedicated following of craft enthusiasts before initiating the sale of pine tree sets on October 29.

Likewise, prior to launching the pine tree set, the wormshop_03 vendor had garnered over 5,790 followers interested in purchasing the shop’s decorative products.

Discussing the strategy for navigating trends on e-commerce platforms, Nguyen Phuong Lam, director of the Market Analysis Department at YouNet ECI, stated the company’s data highlighted a correlation between trends on social media and the best-selling products on e-commerce platforms. 

However, these trends are transient.

“For sustained success, businesses and sellers must assess the longevity of trends, paying particular attention to seasons and market segments, where niche or specialized products may require substantial investment, and catering to the diverse needs of customer groups, especially Gen Z [those born between 1997-2013] and Gen Alpha [the cohort coming up right behind Gen Z],” Lam said.

“To accomplish these objectives, brands and sellers must incorporate market data into their decision-making processes on e-commerce platforms.”

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