Nielsen Vietnam on June 25 cited this information from the latest The Conference Board® Global Consumer Confidence™ Survey in collaboration with Nielsen, a global measurement company.

Increasing by seven percentage points (pp) compared to the last quarter of 2018, Vietnam Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) score in the first quarter of 2019 got the biggest gain in Asia Pacific, which made Vietnam the 3rd most confident country globally, which was a highly optimistic signal compared with the CCI decrease seen last quarter.

In this quarter, global and region experienced a stable CCI trend (-1 pp and +1 pp vs Quarter 4 2018 respectively). Meanwhile, Vietnam’s overall confidence level was high above the regional average (more than 12 pp compared with regional level). Within the Southeast Asian region, the Philippines overcame India to achieve the highest CCI, with 133 points while Singapore was the country with the biggest CCI score lost in the first quarter of 2019 (-4 pp vs Quarter 4 2018) and finished the year with 92 points.

The consumer confidence level in Vietnam remained on par with that of the third quarter last year, sharply above the global average and made Vietnam once again hit the CCI record. The strong growth was leveraged by the impact of the confidence on job prospects and personal finances, as well as the level of willingness to spend by the Vietnamese.

“The significant increase of consumer confidence indicates that local consumers continue the positive changing for themselves and their families. Manufacturers and retailers need to capture the latest trends in the consumer market and need to act faster to respond to the evolving needs of consumers”, said Nguyen Huong Quynh, Managing Director of Nielsen Vietnam.

During the first quarter of 2019, all key drivers of Vietnam Consumer Confidence Index, including job prospects, financial security and spending ready, significantly increased. Around three-quarters of the people surveyed believed they would have good or excellent job prospects (80 per cent, +5 per cent vs Q4 2018) or would be in good or excellent financial states in the next 12 months (82 per cent, +6 per cent vs Q4 2018).

In the same period, 67 per cent of the surveyed respondents confirmed that they were ready to spend, which is an increase of 4 per cent compared with last quarter.

Despite a slight fall, Vietnam still continued to place first in Asia Pacific in Q1 2019 for having the region’s most avid savers (75 per cent, -3 per cent vs Q4 2018), followed by Hong Kong (China) with 68 per cent, the Philippines (68 per cent), and China (67 per cent).

However, after covering essential living expenses, Vietnamese consumers were eager to spend on big-ticket items as they wish to lead a better life, for example, new clothes or holidays.