For Vietnam, 2021 was challenging. The second year of the COVID-19 pandemic brought with it much tougher lockdowns across the country than 2020. We can see this clearly when we review the Brand Footprint results for Vietnam: in Urban 4 Key cities only 19 of the top 50 brands were able to increase their CRP compared to last year, while in Rural it was just 15 of the top 50 brands!
Given the uncertain COVID-19 situation, health and safety remained the biggest concern among Vietnamese households. We also saw increased concerns around income and job security through the year and this impacted the shopping behaviours of Vietnamese families.
Overall, FMCG growth slowed down compared to its 2021 growth peak. Packaged Foods and Dairy were the sectors driving market growth in both Urban 4 key cities and Rural areas. Meanwhile, Beverages suffered heavily from a negative performance, especially in Rural places.
When we take a deep dive into the results from this year, those sector trends are very much reflected with CRP growth becoming challenging for many big brands. Nonetheless, there are still plenty of examples where brands have been able to outperform their competitors by pulling on one or more of the five levers of growth.
Despite a decline in CRP compared to 2020’s results, Vinamilk retains its position as the No.1 most chosen FMCG manufacturer across the Urban 4 key cities. The key change to the rankings compared to last year is that that Masan Consumer takes the lead, and top spot in the Rural ranking.
Suntory PepsiCo experienced a successful 2021 in the Urban 4 key cities by standing out as the only brand owner acquiring more new shoppers among top 5 most chosen manufacturers. This is, in part, thanks to their efforts to capture the shift to in-home consumption caused by COVID-19 variants and its rapid spread in 2021.
Coca Cola keeps it number 1 spot in Urban 4 Cities and the number 3 spot in Rural rankings.
Nescafé is the only other brand which features in the top list for both Urban 4 Cities and Rural geographies, maintaining its leading position in the coffee market. It preserves its 2nd place and 3rd place in Rural and Urban 4 cities, respectively. Nestlé’s brand records a notable increase of 9% in terms of CRP thanks to a variety of substantial communication and marketing activities in the past year.
More interestingly, despite the heavy impact of COVID-19, Tiger still retains its good performance, posting a healthy CRP growth of 6% in Urban 4 key cities. This is partly driven by its huge brand awareness supported by a number of virtual concerts and digital campaigns over the lockdown periods.
Hao Hao and Nam Ngu successfully maintain their crowns as the most chosen Food brands in Urban 4 cities and Rural respectively.
Chin Su marks an impressive year by not only increasing its CRP growth by 9% in Urban 4 key cities but also jumping 1 spot among Rural rankings to 4th. This brand has been doing well in expanding its product portfolio, capturing more in-home occasions during the lockdown periods last year.
Unilever continues to reign supreme within the Health & Beauty sector by occupying most of the top positions in both Urban 4 key cities and Rural.
In Rural rankings, Diana posts a remarkable performance throughout last year and enters the top 5 most chosen healthy & beauty brands. Unicharm’s core brand also successfully stands out as the only player to achieve CRP growth of 9%, successfully adding more than 230,000 new households into its consumer base in 2021.
Sunlight, Omo, and Comfort all continue to take the top 3 most chosen Home Care brands in both Urban 4 key cities and Rural rankings, led by Sunlight who are trusted by, and used by more than 70% of Vietnamese households.
Stepping up 2 ranks and featuring in the top 5 list for the first time in Urban 4 key cities, Ha Noi Paper – a paper product brand – shines, with significant CRP growth of 7%. This is mainly thanks to the rising need for hygiene among Vietnamese consumers throughout the pandemic.
Vinamilk maintains its stronghold as the leader among the top most chosen Dairy and Dairy substitutes, with a huge gap in terms of both CRP and buyers in both Urban 4 key cities and Rural rankings. In fact, compared to last year, there were no changes to the brand rankings in either Urban or Rural geography.
Despite no changes, we still see some strong brand performances. Strong efforts to bring new products and experiences to consumers, helps TH True enjoy a remarkable year posting a CRP growth of 6% and winning more than 34,000 new shoppers in Urban 4 key cities area.
Ngoi Sao Phuong Nam – another success of Vinamilk manufacturer is leading the race as the fastest growing brand in terms of CRP within the top 5 rankings, in both Urban 4 key cities and Rural areas. Promotional campaigns, and the brand’s position as sponsor for many local programs, has meant that the condensed milk brand is now honoured as the No.1 recruiter in Urban 4 key cities, with more than 192,000 new households added to its consumer base between 2020 and 2021.
Vim is a familiar brand across the globe. Owned by Unilever, it had a successful year, driven by the longer-term trend towards higher living standards, as well as the rising awareness of hygiene and cleanliness accelerated by the unprecedented health crisis.
Already the leader within toilet bathroom categories, Vim proactively diversified its product portfolio to map with different consumer demands on specific cleaning purposes, launching products across multiple formats such as liquid, gel, spray, and tablet forms.
Moreover, as Covid-19 hit Vietnamese households heavily, there was a sharp increase in awareness towards keeping homes clean and healthy, especially when spending more time there. Naturally Vim (as the most popular brand) benefited across different groups of families.
However, its success is not just because it was the most popular brand in this category. Vim worked on its brand image, becoming a pioneer in various movements / non-government programmes to educate Vietnamese people on the important role of health protection in the fight against illnesses caused by bacteria, epidemics, environmental pollution, and water pollution.
This toilet / bathroom brand also plays a part in social impact initiatives, willingly joining hands to build new toilets, or to improve their quality of toilets in schools. Its work is especially focused on rural and remote areas, indirectly expanding its brand awareness, and gaining more trust from Vietnamese consumers.
With all these efforts, Vim deservingly stepped up one spot into the top six and top ten most chosen Home Care brands in Urban 4 key cities and Rural respectively.
The brand is also honoured as the No.2 fastest-growing brand in terms of CRP among the top 10 most chosen Home Care brands in Urban ranking, posting a double-digit growth of 10%, and winning more than 214,000 new consumers in the past year.
Hi Ms. Van, congratulations on being one of the top 5 growing brands in Beverages for 2021!
Can you share, what has been your biggest success? To be honest, 2021 was a very turbulent year, and our brand faced plenty of struggles due to the constantly changing social context. Despite all the challenges, 2021 can be wrapped up in one key success story: the timely shift in focus to in-home consumption.
2021 was the year of the pandemic, with a lot of insights pointing out that in-home consumption occasions would be embraced more often. Hence, to capture this current and future acceleration of in-home consumption, TEA+ Plus in 2021 focus on capturing family gathering occasion. With TEA+ Plus being brought home and potentially consumed by the whole family, our brand can then recruit new trialists among family members, creating the potential for future drinking occasions for TEA+ Plus.
With the learnings drawn from 2021, 2022 will be a more exciting year for TEA+ Plus with many plans on the horizon.
Thank you, Ms. Van. So, following what you have just shared, moving forward to 2022, what are further opportunities for TEA+ Plus? In 2022, we plan to enhance TEA+ Plus proposition as a brand for wellbeing. This year, TEA+ Plus goes beyond just physical wellbeing by embracing the importance of mental well-being. With both consumers and the brand staying resilient during such a difficult time in 2021, moving into 2022, we want to continue associating ourselves with a healthier lifestyle, allowing consumers to feel light, which is the message we want to convey in our new TVC campaign “Uong cho ngay them nhe” (which translates as “Drink to make the day lighter”) .
Hand in hand with this communication, in terms of product, TEA+ Plus is acting on the plan to become the number one brand and develop its place in the healthy segment of No Sugar/No Calories.
What about consumer behaviour has surprised you the most over the past ten years? From my standpoint as a consumer, I witnessed that, firstly, health concerns have evolved for years, and have accelerated during COVID waves. This was one of the drivers of growth for the RTD Tea category. Secondly, increased exposure to information is evident, driven by the emergence of digitalisation, especially social network sites. And, even though the trend is arguably at the early stages of development in Vietnam, a more sustainable lifestyle is set to have more impact on consumer behaviour in the next 10 years. All these factors are reflected in TEA+ Plus’s current and future vision.
