thuy nguyen vietnamese customer behavior on instant

Bachelor’s thesis

International Business Program

2020

Thuy Nguyen

VIETNAMESE CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR ON INSTANT NOODLES DURING NATIONAL LOCKDOWN

BACHELOR’S THESIS | ABSTRACT

TURKU UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES

International Business

2020 | 46, 3

Thuy Nguyen

VIETNAMESE CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR ON INSTANT NOODLES DURING NATIONAL LOCKDOWN

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This thesis is a study on Vietnamese customer behavior on instant noodles during the time Vietnam went through national lockdown (April 2020). The thesis provides findings for the impacts of national lockdown on Vietnamese customers and customer behavior on instant noodles. Furthermore, it also provides findings for how Vietnam-based retailers adapted to these changes in customer behavior.

In term of research method, a mixed methodology namely quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis are applied in the research process. For quantitative method, online survey with multiple-choice questions were conducted and received a sum of over 200 respondents. For qualitative research, phone call interviews with semi-structure interview were conducted. Due to the author’s limited network, the current complications of Vietnam’s pandemic situation, plus the constraint of time, there were only four candidates took part in the interview via phone call.

KEYWORDS:

Vietnamese customer behavior, instant noodles, national lockdown, COVID-19.

CONTENT

1 INTRODUCTION 6

1.1 Background information 6

1.2 Research motivation 7

1.3 Research question and objectives 7

1.4 Thesis structure 8

2 LITERATURE REVIEW 10

2.1 A brief presentation of the Vietnam’s national lockdown enforcement 10

2.2 Studies on customer behavior in retail stores 11

2.2.1 The definition of a customer at a retail store 11

2.2.2 Customer profiling 12

2.3 Studies on Vietnamese customer behavior influenced by national lockdown

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2.4 Studies on Vietnamese customer behavior on instant noodles 17

2.5 Studies on Vietnam-based retail stores adapted to changes in customer

behavior 19

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 20

3.1 Research method 20

3.2 Data collection method 20

3.3 List of question 22

3.4 Limitations 23

4 DATA ANALYSIS 24

4.1 Quantitative results 24

4.1.1 Factors that affected a customer’s buying decision for instant noodles. 28

a. When instant noodles was an option for stockpiling. 28

b. When customers did not choose instant noodles for stockpiling. 32

4.2 Qualitative results 34

5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 37

5.1 Conclusion 37

5.2 Recommendations for further academic research 38

REFERENCES 40

APPENDIX

Appendix 1. Survey questions

FIGURES

Figure 1. Chages in Vietnamese customer behavior (Nielsen 2020)

Figure 2. Age group of survey participants

Figure 3. Martial status of the survey participants

Figure 5. Monthly income at the time of national lockdown of participants

Figure 6. The proportion of the amount of the product in pack or box chosen by the

participants

Figure 7. Proportion of price segments selected by the participants

Figure 8. Seven factors that were ranked in the importance level

Figure 9. Percentage of various reasons for not buying instant noodles

PICTURES

Picture 1. Locals rushed to supermarkets and buy in panic to stock on food 15 Picture 2. Goods were more available in stores when national lockdown was made 16 Picture 3. Growth on spending on FMCG products. 17 Picture 4. People gathered and made a crowd in noodles shelves that they forgot to maintain a 2-meter distance in the supermarket. 18

TABLES

Table 1. List of questions 21 Table 2. Qualitative research analysis 34

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TURKU UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES THESIS | Nguyen Thuy

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background information

Within a short period, the world experienced sudden, rapid, and unexpected disruptions

in social, economic, and psychological lives due to the emerge of the global pandemic

COVID-19. There have been more than 70 million infected cases worldwide, with more

than 1,5 million deaths (Coronavirus Cases 2020). In Vietnam, Vietnam officially

recorded the first infected cases on 23rd January, 2020. The patients, known to be a

father and a son, are not originally from Vietnam, but came to Vietnam for travel from

Wuhan, China. Since that moment, Vietnamese authorities officially initiated the fight

against COVID-19 using stringent prevention measures. On February 26th, 16 out of 16

infected patients completely recovered from the disease, and Vietnam recorded no new

infected cases for the next 18 days. (Bach Mai Hospital electronic port 2005).

On the evening of March 6, 2020, Hanoi announced the first case, patient number 17th,

who is a 26-year-old female patient on flight VN0054 from London to Hanoi from March

2, 2020. This patient was known to have infected three more people on the same flight.

This event officially marked the second wave of the pandemic hitting Vietnam. (Open

Develop Vietnam 2020). This second stage witnessed a substantial increase in the

number of infected patients, up to more than 200 cases, compared to the first stage with

only 16 cases.

The second wave was considered to spread at a faster speed, causing serious harms to

the well-being of the society when the infected cases exceeded 200. During this time,

although strict prevention measures were implemented in public places, the number of

infected cases did not have any signs of reducing. As the complications of COVID-19

continued to increase, the government decided to enforce the implementation of the

national lockdown, starting from April 1st. For this reason, the second stage experienced

dramatic changes in customer behavior on various products, including instant noodles.

As the implementation of national lockdown is an official written form of regulation issued

by the government, it had a major impact on the Vietnamese customer behavior and the

operations of retail stores. For this reason, this thesis will focus on the time when Vietnam

fought the pandemic with the official implementation of national lockdown from the

government, which starts from 1st April to 30th April 2020. Furthermore, the thesis also

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provides information as an exploratory and referential study on customer behavior in

Vietnam by focusing on shoppers’ spending characteristics on instant noodles.

1.2 Research motivation

In terms of research motivation, first of all, it comes from personal interest in studying

customer behavior on instant noodles. As a Vietnamese customer who went shopping

for instant noodles to stock-up-on goods during national lockdown, I witnessed various

novel experiences in the shopping journey that I myself never had before. This happened

to my online shopping experience as well. This makes me curious and interested in

researching customer behavior on instant noodles during the enforcement of national

lockdown. Gaining an insight in how and why buyers choose to spend on this product

during this time benefits me in widiening specialized knowledge on this aspect.

The second motivation comes from my previous work experience as an intern at Nielsen

Vietnam. Here, I spent nine months working as a consultant intern majoring in customer

behavior on instant noodles. My primary tasks are providing customers, who are

Vietnam-based retail stores managers, an overview of the instant noodles market,

anticipations of customer behavior on instant noodles, mostly offline, and

receommendations to adjust business strategies during the implementation of national

lockdown. Thoroughly understanding how Vietnamese shoppers react to sudden

changes in their social and economic lives, which leads to the changes in purchasing

habits and preferences on instant noodles strongly benefit my professional work.

Additionally, drawing a clear picture of offline customer identification in Vietnam and

identifying their purchase preferences help retailers rapidly adapt and initiate business

plans. For this reason, this thesis could also be an informative and applicable reference

material for retailers to review. From another perspective, this research might also help

the Vietnamese government or business consultant institutions create policies and

services that support both customers and retailers to overcome the COVID-19

complications.

1.3 Research question and objectives

This thesis will answer three main research questions as follow:

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I. How did the national lockdown changed Vietnamese customer behavior?

II. How the retailers adapted to these changes during this time?

III. What are the Vietnamese customer behaviors of instant noodles during national

lockdown?

The objective of this thesis is to gain an understanding of how the enforcement of the

national lockdown influenced Vietnamese customers and the spending on instant

noodles, plus the retailers’ adaptations to this situation. As COVID-19 continues to get

more complicated and unexpected, Vietnam must stay highly prepared and updated for

any scenarios. This includes a scenario of the second time of national lockdown

enforcement, especially when the spreading of the pandemic seems to be out of control.

Although lessons might be learned from the past, it is most ideal to study thoroughly the

impact of the impact of national lockdown on the customers, instant noodles spending,

and the retailers to stay ready and prepared for any unexpectations. This also helps the

Vietnamese govenrment to make better decisions and create more efficient policies in

the near future that benefit both the customers and the retailers.

1.4 Thesis structure

This thesis comprises five main chapters, which are the introduction, literature review,

research methodology, research data analysis, and conclusion.

• Introduction: The author will begin the first chapter by briefly presenting the

initial situations of COVID-19 to Vietnam and the implementation of national

lockdown in the second wave. In this first chapter, research questions, the

purpose of the research, and research motivations will also be presented.

• Literature review: There are five parts included in this chapter. First of all, the

author would start by briefly presenting the enforcement of national lockdown in

Vietnam. The second part is an intensive literature review from online sources,

which mainly are articles and journals, will be utilized to clarify the term customer

behavior in retailing industry. The third part is the studies on Vietnamese

customer behaviors influenced by national lockdown. The next part is the studies

on the changes from customer behavior on instant noodles. These two parts use

mostly online publications from market research companies in Vienam such as

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Nielsen and Kantar. The final part in the second chapter will be about how

Vietnam-based retail stores adapted to changes in customer behavior.

• Research methodology: This chapter consists of four parts: research method,

data collection method, list of question, and limitations.

• Data analysis: in this chapter, findings for quantitative research and qualitative

research will be presented relatively.

• Conclusion: this chapter provides summarized answers to the three research

questions and provide recommendations for further research.

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2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 A brief presentation of the national lockdown enforcement in Vietnam

The enforcement of national lockdown came as a direct result of Vietnam receiving the

second wave of the epidemic starting from the beginning of March. After 22 days with no

new infected case, Vietnam officially recorded the second stage of the pandemic when

a new infected patient was discovered on March 6th (Open Develop Vietnam 2020).

Along with the complicated progress of the second stage of the pandemic on Vietnam,

health experts warned that risk of infection in the community highly likely to occur if the

government chose not to implement stricter prevention measures. Additionally, it was

also forecasted that the epidemic will spread rapidly on a large scale, seriously

threatening human life, health and socio-economy of the country.

On March 31st, the official website of the Ministry of Health Portal gate, issued Directive

number 16 on the implementation of social isolation to prevent and control the COVID-

19 epidemic (the Ministry of Health Portal gate 2020). Accordingly, the enforcement was

officially in effect nationwide starting from 0:00 p.m. on April 1st, 2020 and lasted for within

15 days. People, communities, and organizations must ensure safety distances with at

least 2 meters, always wearing masks, and carefully follow disinfection regulations in

public places. People were asked to stay home and only go out for very necessary

occasions such as go shopping for groceries and necessities. Stores and factories that

serve for the manufacture and provision of groceries and necessities will not be closed.

People were encouraged to take online shopping tools as a priority to prevent social

interactions avoid going out. For those who want to physically visit the stores to buy

goods, they must conform to prevention regulations in the public. For the store operators

and the retailers generally, they must ensure the working staff and the customers strictly

follow the prevention regulations such as wearing masks, checking temperature, etc and

must inform the authority if any individual has fever, fatigue, or coughing. (the Ministry of

Health Portal gate 2020).

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2.2 Studies on customer behavior in retail stores

It is important to first, understand thoroughly the term customer behavior. For marketers,

understanding customer behavior helps them to get connected and interact with

customers in a more effective way (Sangvikar & Katole 2012). Customer behavior is also

considered a povital factor that influence the business strategies adopted by the retailers

(Sangvikar et al., 2012). This is the foundation to further understand and explain how

national lockdown impacted on Vietnamese customer behavior.

In customer relationship management, knowledge on customer behavior is generally the

most effective source of predictive data (Rud, 2001). In retail store management, store

managers are expected to both provide high-quality product and services and react

appropriately to the changes in customer needs (Chen, Chiu & Chang 2005).

Furthermore, gaining a thorough knowledge of the changes in customer behavior benefit

retail store managers in establishing more effective promotion campaigns (Song et al.,

2001).

Studies on customer behavior in retail stores often deal with two facets: the first one is

the identification of offline customers, and the second one is the customers’ purchase

behavior patterns at the store (William 1951).

In order to thoroughly understand the conceptualization of customer behavior, it is povital

to first understand the buyer’s identification. In the next part, questions such as:

• Is a customer similar to a consumer?

• In which cases a customer is and / or is not a consumer?

• Is a customer always a purchaser?

would be thoroughly answered.

2.2.1 The definition of a customer at a retail store

It is often mistaken between a customer and a consumer. These two terms do not hold

the equivalent meaning. While customer means the buyer of a product or a service, the

consumer is the end user of that product or service (William 1951). For example, a

woman goes to a store and buy food to prepare for the dinner for the family. At home

she and her whole family together enjoy the meal. In this case, the woman is both the

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customer – the buyer at the store – and the consumer – consume the products she

bought from the store. Her family, on the other hand, are not the customers because they

did not conduct the goods purchase or physically visit the store, but are the goods

consumers. Similarly, purchasers of diapers are not the consumers of the product, but

rather the babies.

Referring to my previous scope of work, in retailing environments, a customer both can

and cannot become the consumer. For example, Bibomart, a well-known mom and baby

store chain in Vietnam, likely to welcome customers that are not the consumers, because

the majority of the products sold in these shops are designed to be used for infants and

babies. However, in some of the central stores located in district one, I observed that

there has been a shelf specifically used to display and sell snacks and cokes. Nearby

the shelf is a small space for the buyers to consume directly at the store. For the stores

that have this kind of outlet, they might also welcome consumers as the products sold in

this shelf are expected to be bought and consumed immediately by the buyers. In this

case, the buyers are both the customer and the in-store consumer.

In some cases, however, the buyers enter the store but choose not to buy anything. This

leads to the difference between a customer and an in-store purchaser. For instance, a

couple entering a store may be considered two customers or one customer and a free

browser. Furthermore, it is not always possible to tell which is which. This example

indicated that the definition of customer that includes also the buyer, albeit being true in

some cases, is sometimes impractical because it is difficult to identify which is which.

Practically speaking, every individual who enters a store is potentially an in-store

purchaser and characterizes a unit in a store’s customer traffic. (William 1951).

2.2.2 Customer profiling

A customer profile represents a snapshot description of who are the customers, what

characteristics do they have, how to reach them, and why they come to a business

(Adomavicius and Tuzhilin 1999). The process of developing a profile using relevant

and available information to describe the characteristics of a customer is called

customer profiling (Manifold Data mining inc. 2008).

Customer profiles play an important role in providing information and data about the

customers which is necessary business operators to employ one-to-one marketing

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strategies (Adomavicius & Tuzhilin 2006). Business corporates leverage customer

profiles to filter and analyze data about customers in order to meet the needs and

preferences of each customer group (Liu et al., 2001). For online dynamic environments,

generating individual profiles for customers benefit corporates in assisting the

implementation of one-on-one online marketing strategies, such as customization and

personalization. These methods have been proved to increase customer satisfaction and

loyalty which eventually leads to the growth of sales records, revenues, and profits (Lai

et al., 2003).

2.3 Studies on Vietnamese customer behavior influenced by national lockdown

The changes in customer behavior was known to commence approximately one month

in prior to the official issue of the national lockdown, because people all sense the

complicated progress of the pandemic. Vietnamese have already started to cut down on

their spending, particularly in leisure activities, outdoors entertainment activities,

luxurious services. Instead, they shifted to focus on more important and essential needs.

This includes stocking up on food and health-oriented products (Kantar Worldpanel,

2020).

A customer behavior survey from Nielsen revealed that roughly a half of the respondents

said they increased the stocking activities on goods and meals at home due to more

people staying at home for longer time, while more than a half of local residents have

reduced the frequency of visiting the stores physically. Besides, 25% of respondents said

that they have increased their online shopping and have reduced their out of home

consumption occasions (Nielsen 2020).

From the retailer’s data point of view, YouNet Media indicated that the number of visits

to retailers' websites increased an average of 26.2% in the first quarter of 2020,

compared to the previous quarter (Linh Chi 2016)

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Figure 1. Chages in Vietnamese customer behavior (Nielsen 2020)

Furthermore, the survey also revealed that Vietnamese are highly aware of the

complicated progress of the pandemic by constantly following news and updates on the

disease. The top three information sources including social media (82%), text messages

from the Ministry of Health (79%) and news on TV (78%) (Nielsen, 2020).

However, the situation in Vietnam does not solely stop at drawing the line at awareness.

Vietnamese are taking actions to protect themselves from the disease. 89% of the

respondents claimed that they wear a mask whenever they go out. 87% said that they

wash their hands frequently with soap; while 81% said that they avoid public places or

crowded places (Nielsen, 2020).

Local news stated that the increasing amount of people rushing to supermarkets to stock-

up-on food created the situation of panic-buying. Although the official lockdown issue

was not put into action, the customers themselves already prepare for their upcoming

home-staying period of time empty as the fear for a wider spread went up. This was

distinctly presented by the fact that shelves at the supermarkets were seen entirely

empty (Pham 2020)

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Picture 1. Locals rushed to supermarkets and buy in panic to stock on food

Once the national lockdown was put into effect, offline shopping activities reduced

considerably. Supermarkets were all loaded with products that are full availability, yet not

so many people were seen coming to these places for shopping. At this time, all

entertainment businesses, restaurants, schools, and universities have been forced to

shut down. People are not allowed to stay in a group of more than 5 people within a

distance of 1 meter. In supermarkets and CVS stores, the number of staff was reduced

considerably. Some small CVS stores only had one storekeeper and one security staff

(Hien 2020).

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Picture 2. Goods were more available in stores when national lockdown was made

A sharing from Sendo and Shopee, key players in the e-commerce channel, reveals that

its user who age from 18 to 34 years old account for 72,54% and the number of e-

customers soared once the national lockdown was implemented. This can be explained

as the young generations is more capable of technology and familiar with online

shopping techniques. Furthermore, they are also faster in adapting to the shift in

purchase behavior caused by COVID-19. As a result, the young customers choose to

shop for daily groceries online and accept door-to-door shipping, instead of visiting the

store directly. Shopee stated that not only purchasing necessities to stock-up-on food,

its customers even use this platform for daily groceries (Giang 2020).

In short, before the national lockdown announcement was made roughly a month,

customers were observed to buy goods in panic. When the lockdown announcement

officially took effect on 1st of April, although less customers were seen to physically visit

the store due to strict prevention regulations, the heat of buying goods was not

diminishing because the majority of shoppers still chose to buy goods online. Customers

at this time buy not only necessities for stocking but also daily groceries.

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2.4 Studies on Vietnamese customer behavior on instant noodles

Instant noodles have became one of the hottest items to be hunted for the stocking

activities. Most people chose it because it does not cost much, easy to be consumed,

and can last for at least several months (Kim 2020). Lotte Mart – a well-known

supermarket in Vietnam stated that sales of instant noodles in March increased by 27%

compared to the period of February. The two highest turns for the sale records was on

March 7th and March 31st. The average number of products in a buyer's shopping cart

increased, but the frequency of buying has decreased significantly (Tuoitre 2020).

Regarding the spending on instant noodles, Nielsen anticipated since the beginning of

March that this product will become one of the hot items to be purchased the most for

stocking. Just behind mouthwashing products, spending on instant noodles was

expected to grow up to 67%. (Nielsen, cited in Tuoitre 2020).

Picture 3. Growth on spending on FMCG products (Nielsen 2020)

If the price for this hot item suddenly goes up just because it is temporarily out of stock,

many people would not have a chance to buy proper food for stocking. Fortunately this

scenario did not happen because the price was kept balanced. Instant noodles were sold

at the officially labelled price. There had been no situation where prices of this product

went up suddenly due to scarcity or out-of-stock situations. The authority has put an

effort in keeping this product’s price balanced and managed to make it available and

accessible for everyone (Pham 2017).

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The state of panic-buying did not last long when the government made announcement

and advised people not to buy goods in panic. For retail stores, the government directed

supermarkets and key enterprises to ensure to meet the shopping needs of people for

essential goods. With the authoritative announcements and a supermarket’s full-of-

goods image, people no longer rushed to buy goods in panic. (Ha 201r9)

Customers who visit the supermarkets to buy instant noodles at this time were observed

to gather in a large crowd coming to buy food for stocking. The demands for instant

noodles were so high that some customers were seen to buy 5 boxes of instant noodles

at a time. The crowd at the instant noodles area got bigger and bigger since people move

to this shelf for instant noodles increased, that they forgot to keep distance with others

within 2 meters. However, customers no longer rushed to buy this product anymore.

They know that the goods are all sufficient and they are available and reachable to

everyone. (Ha 2019).

Picture 4. People gathered and made a crowd in noodles shelves that they forgot to

maintain a 2-meter distance in the supermarket.

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2.5 Studies on Vietnam-based retail stores adapted to changes in customer

behavior

Most supermarkets maintained a sufficient source of supply to avoid empty-shelf

situation and goods unavailability. More products were seen available on the shelves,

and customers did not have to buy in panic anymore. Still, the demands for instant

noodles were so high that the staff had to work continuously to load new items and boxes

to the shelves. Supermarkets did their best to keep the shelves available with full of items

loaded. (Ha 2019).

Recognizing the on-going high demands for goods and items despite national lockdown,

many retailers have digitalized their operations to catch up with the online shopping

trend. Many supermarkets and convenience stores launched their shopping app and

boost promotions to gain loyal customers. Vinmart and Lotte supermarket launched their

own online shopping platforms and encouraged their existing customers to place online

orders via the platforms to receive better discounts. (Anh 2020).

On the other hand, other players chose to cooperate with digitalized platforms and

delivery companies to reach and interact with their customers more effectively. Saigon

Coop supermarket chose to collaborate with Grab and Zalo to enable its customers place

online orders via these two digital agencies. (Anh 2020). Since the end of February this

supermarket chain announced to receive shopping orders via website, phone, Zalo /

Viber to serve the needs of limiting direct shopping of people. During the first two weeks

of March, the retailer reported that the number of orders through online channels had

increased about 10 times compared to before, with millions of interactions receiving each

day (Linh Chi 2016)

YouNet Media revealed that, according to the data collected and analyzed from social

media discussions regarding online retailers, Bach Hoa Xanh, SpeedL and VinMart were

the three brands that received the most interactions from e-customers via online platform

(Linh Chi 2016).

The arrival of COVID-19, besides its negative impacts, also brought some of the

extraordinary and exceptional experiences. For retailers and brand marketers, they can

leverage this opportunity to turn disadvantages to advantages, to win back the loss

during the national lockdown, or even expanding and maintaining the solid growth of the

business (Thanh Luan 2020).

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3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research method

In order to achieve the research objectives, a mixed mothodology research with the

inductive approach was conducted. Concurrent mixed methods research is proved to

help researcher access richer data in a short time-scale and combine the benefits of both

quantitative and qualitative method (Saunders, et al., 2016). Quantitative research is an

effective method to analyzing numerical or statistical data and this method also allow

researchers to control the validity of the data collected (Saunders, et al., 2016).

Quantitative research is an effective method to analyzing numerical data or statistics.

This method allows researchers to control the validity of the data collected (Saunders, et

al., 2016). In this research, the quantitative method was used to collect demographical

statistics (age, gender, location, education, level of income) of customers who visited the

retail stores physically to buy instant noodles during the implementation of national

lockdown. Additionally, purchase behaviors that based on the product’s characteristics

such as price, brand, package design, product quality, etc. were also be collected.

This thesis also utilized qualitative research in the personal interview with segmented

customers. Qualitative method enhances the participation and engagement from the

interviewee, allows the researcher to access further explanatory opinions and deeper

knowledge of the data collected (Saunders, et al., 2016). As the purpose of this research

is to understand the impact of national lockdown on Vietnamese customer behaviors and

on instant noodles, the author used the qualitative method in the form of semi-structured

interview. The semi-structured interview includes a list of key questions to be followed.

Depending on the circumstance and the personality of the interviewee, the author can

add additional questions based on the context of the interview, or adjust the other of the

question list (Saunders, et al., 2016).

3.2 Data collection method

For quantitative data collection, online survey created by google form platform was used.

The questions were written in both Vietnamese and English because most of the

housewives are unable to understand in English. The majority of the respondents comes

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from the author’s circle of network. This mean high school students and / or university

students, housewives and office workers – the author’s friends – are the participants in

the online survey. The online survey was open for responses in two weeks, from 4th to

18th of November and collected a base of roughly 200 respondents. Finally, the author

will quantify the statistic, using charts and graphs for better visualization and

interpretation.

For qualitative data, semi-structured interviews via face-to-face and phone calls in

Vietnamese were conducted. There were eight participants with different backgrounds

took part in the interview. As the complicated progress of the pandemic continues to

create more changes, the author only recorded background information of the

participants snapshot at the time Vietnam went through national isolation.

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3.3 List of question

Table 1. List of questions

Criteria Detail Research method

1. Background information

• Gender and age

• Martial status

• Employment status at the time of national lockdown

Survey

2. Monthly income at the time of national lockdown

• The amount of monthly income Survey

3. Instant noodles as a preference for stocking

• At the time of national lockdown, did you choose to buy instant noodles?

Survey and interview

Yes to the 3rd criteria

- Amount of the product (packet / box) - Price range of the product (Vietnam Dong) - Rating factors as highly important or not important at all when buying the product

• Brand

• Price

• Package with eye-catching designs

• Eco-friendly package

• Recommended from others

• Excellent product quality (nice taste, rich-flavored soup)

• The product is attached with another product(s) I am in need of

Survey

How national lockdown affected your purchase behavior for instant noodles, based on:

• Shopping experience

• Spending on the product

• Advantages

• Disadvantages

Interview

No to the 3rd criteria

Select the reason(s) for not buying the products from the list below:

• Unnecessary for stockings

• Concern of health benefits

• Substitution products

• Because too many people were hunting for this product

• Budget constraint

• Nearby distribution channels did not sell this product

• Environmental reasons

• The brand I prefer is temporarily out-of-stock

• I do not see the benefits in stockings

Survey

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- Name the reason(s) for not buying the products - From personal view, explain why such reason(s) prevented the act of buying the product

Interview

3.4 Limitations

For quantitative research, the questionnaire was published via google form and sent to

the author’s circle of network. Due to limited networks, the majority of the respondents

are students and housewives. It is challenging for the author to call for participation with

various background to make the population more diverse, especially when she was

working on this research individually and did not have sponsorship for the attendants.

However, as housewives considered the main shopper in the family in Vietnam, data

collected from this group possibly yield results that, to some extends, reflect the

theoretical findings from the qualitative studies.

Regarding qualitative data, the data collection process went through several hindrances

when the author, although tried her best, was not able to reach more partcipants for the

interviews. Furthermore, at the time when the researcher conducted the interviews,

Vietnam society, particularly Ho Chi Minh City, still maintained the strict prevention

measures of social interactions.

For this reason, many interviewees did not want to meet face-to-face for the interview.

Interview via phone call or other online platform such as Zoom and Hangout were

suggested, yet it seemed that they were not willing to experience it, thus leading to the

actual number of participants, from over ten, dropping down to only four.

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4 DATA ANALYSIS

4.1 Quantitative results

The results are presented based on five areas: gender, age, martial status,

employment status, and monthly income. To capture the accuracy in the data, the

three last areas need to be stated at exactly the point of national lockdown, meaning

in April 2020.

a. Gender.

The majority of the participants were female. 70.1 %, while only 24.5% is male. The

author aimed at those who are the shoppers that directly go to the store to buy instant

noodles. For a family, the author would collect information from the main shopper

who visit the store or conduct online orders most frequently. In these cases, the

majority of participants are female.

b. Age.

The author aims at the young people and the middle-aged who age no more than

60 years old. As the majority of the participants are the author’s acquaintances who

age no more than 40 years old, this age group accounts for a small part only.

Almost half of the participants are the young aging from 21 to 30. The second

largest proportion is the 31-40 age group. Finally, the student age group accounts

for approximately one fifth.

Figure 2. Age group of survey participants

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c. Martial status at the point of national lockdown.

In this survey, almost half of the participants are single, while the second largest

group is the ones who have already get marriage and children. Coming up right after

this group is the group containing those who are married but have no children. This

criteria, to the author’s point of view, is a significant one for evaluation, because

single people and married people with children, if they chose YES to buy instant

noodles for stocking, would have bought different amount of instant noodles because

it hugely depends on the number of people in the household.

Figure 3. Martial status of the survey participants

d. Employment status at the point of national lockdown.

The announcement of national lockdown in April 2020 changed many people’s

employment status, except for the student group. Some went from employed to be

unemployed, some went from working fulltime to part-time. According to the

responses, the majority of the participants are student, which accounts for 38.3%,

while the second largest proportion is those who are housewife. Coming up next is

those who became unemployed due to COVID-19, of which the figure accounts for

26


almost one fifth.

Figure 4. Employment status of the participants at the time of national lockdown

As Vietnam was considered a success story in commitment to containment the

COVID-19 pandemic, (Exemplars in Global Health 2020), there was still a

considerable amount of people who did not get unemployed due to this lockdown

announcement. They managed to sustain their employment status as fulltime or part-

time while still conforming to lockdown regulations, such as working from home.

It is important to record the exact employment status at the time the lockdown

announcement was taken into effect. From March to April 2020, many people have

to prepare for stocking on food and hygienic products, while have to face the fact that

their monthly income being reduced or cut down at the same time. This directly

affects a customer’s purchase behavior. Although people buy goods in panic and

have the tendency to buy in large bulk, it is the financial budget that actually allows

them to be able to do so or not.

e. Monthly income at the point of national lockdown.

The monthly income at the time of national lockdown go accordingly with the

employment status. These two facets tend to change with the time of pre-lockdown

and lockdown period, which hugely affects a customer’s purchase behavior. Figure

4 shows that roughly 42% do not have a source of financial supply. Based on

personal observations and previous work experience, this could be explained in two

scenarios. One is that he / she is a student, thus not earning any money. The other

one is that a person got unemployed due to COVID-19, thus being not able to earn

27


any money. Comparing to figure 3 with the majority is student, there is a possibility

that student made up considerably, 41.7% of those not earning money. However,

those who became unemployed due to COVID-19 accounts for a relatively large

portion as well - almost 20%. This figure also possibly contributes a big portion in the

group of those not earning money.

The second largest monthly income group is below 1 million VND. From work

experience as an intern, I shall provide two scenarios to explain why this group

comes at the second highest. During national lockdown, most people were forced to

stay home and avoid going out. This became a good chance to take online jobs with

trivial tasks that could provide a small amount of money. The tasks were not required

academic experiences and could be done anytime. However, the tasks might take a

lot of time and the wages might not be attractive or fixed each month.

The second scenario is that the employment status of a part of the respondents was

changed, from fulltime to part-time. This made their monthly income being cut down

and much lower than their usual monthly income. Albeith national lockdown, still a

considerable amount of people who maintained not to get unemployed during this

time, yet it might also mean that their monthly income was cut down and they had to

receive the salary at a much lower rate.

Speaking of monthly income being cut down, the above scenario could also be

applied for the third largest group: those whose monthly income range from 1 million

to not more than 11 millions VND. For example, there is possibly a portion of

respondents who, before the arrival of COVID-19, received a relatively high monthly

income. However, at the time of national lockdown, their monthly salary was cut down

yet still above the threshold of 1 million VND.

28


Figure 5. Monthly income at the time of national lockdown of participants

4.1.1 Factors that affected a customer’s buying decision for instant noodles.

a. When instant noodles became an option for stockpiling on food.

In the next question of the survey, participants are asked to answer yes or no for the

question of “Did you purchase instant noodles in preparation for the national

lockdown on April?”. 86% responded yes, which means they chose to purchase

instant noodles as one of the essentialities for stocking. 14% responded no meaning

they did not buy instant noodles for stocking activity before and during the lockdown.

If the participants chose yes, it would take them to the second part of the survey,

where they were asked to choose the characteristics for the product they bought.

The first two questions represent the amount of packs and the price customers chose

to buy for each pack.

In Vietnam, there are two product segmentations in the market of instant noodles:

Cup / Bowl and Packet. Unlike cup noodles, which are mostly used for the take-away

purposes, packet is more favored by the majority of Vietnamese consumers. (Mintel’s

report on Instant Noodles in Vietnam 2020). For this rationale, this thesis will focus

only on packet package type. The unit used to measure for a portion of this product

would be a pack of instant noodles, not a cup or bowl of instant noodles.

29


Figure 6. The proportion of the amount of the product in pack or box chosen by the

participants

This figure indicates more than a half of the respondents claimed that they bought a

30-packed box of instant noodles, while roughly 36% bought more than one box.

There are two scenarios that the author can provide to explain for this data. The first

scenario is that, the number of customers who actually bought more than one box of

noodles was high, similarly to the news delivered on the press, yet the author was

unable to reach out to them, thus data for this part had not been accurately captured.

The second scenario is that the fact that customers bought more than one box of

noodles during panic-buying only occurred in a short period of time, making data for

this part lower than the group that bought only one box of noodles. As mentioned

earlier, the government and the Ministry of Industry and Trade play a pivotal role in

supervising the goods buying situation in Vietnam from February to April 2020. Only

a short time after receiving news about panic-buying situation, the government

immediately issued orders to retailers to always keep goods available and accessible

to customers. On the other hand, recommendations on not buying in panic were also

delivered to the customers, advising them not to hurry or get panic because the

goods will be sufficient and reachable to everyone.

The next question asks the respondents to choose the price segment they decided

to buy for a unit of portion, or a pack of instant noodles. There are three price

segments listed in the survey: no more than 5,000 VND for a pack, 6,000 VND to

15,000 VND for a pack, and the final option, more than 15,000 VND for a pack.

The author did research on finding the price segmentation for instant noodles, for

example what is the price range for a packet of noodles in the economy, mainstream,

or premium segment. However, there was no reports or articles mentioning this topic.

30


Figure 7. Proportion of price segments selected by the participants

This shows the majority of the participants chose the lowest price segment during

national lockdown. More than 80% of the respondents claimed to have bought

packets of instant noodles that price no more than 5,000 VND, while just roughly a

fifth of the participants chose to buy the product at higher prices. This proved that

Vietnamese customers at this time became more price-sensitive and prefer tighten

their budget due to negative impacts on the economy.

Moving on to the third question, where the respondents were asked to read through

the list of various factors and rate how much important each factor contributed to their

purchase behavior. Ranking from 1 to 5, with 1 being “not important at all” and 5

being “highly important”, below is the list of factors that contribute to a shopper’s

purchase decision.

• Brand

• Price

• Package with eye-catching designs

• Eco-friendly package

• Recommended from others

• Excellent product quality (nice taste, rich-flavored soup)

• The product is attached with another product(s) I am in need of

In the first factor, the majority voted slightly important for brand. This means when it

comes to brand, it does not matter much to the customers and it would not contribute

a big part to their final decision of buying an instant noodles product. The level

Important ranked number 2 with a gap that is not so big. This means there are still

31


some considerably large numbers of participants consider brands a bit more

weighted when they need to make up their mind for an instant noodles product.

The second factor – price – is considered highly important to consider buying an

instant noodles product by almost 80% of the participants. Comparing to figure 7

where more than 80% of the respondents claimed to buy products at no more than

5,000 VND for a packet, it makes sense to confirm that consumers, at this point,

became very price-sensitive, thus choosing products at cheaper prices and

considering Price as highly important to their purchase decision.

Figure 8. seven factors that were ranked in the importance level

After Brand and Price, Package with eye-catching designs is the next factor listed in

the survey. According to the result, around 80% of the respondents claimed that this

factor plays the least importance in their purchase decision. This is proved by the fact

that the two lowest levels, namely not important at all and slightly important

accounted for the highest figures. Only a small portion of respondents consider this

factor very important.

If the Package with eye-catching designs acts as an external contributor that attracts

the customers’ attention, then the Eco-friendly package is an internal contributor to

evaluate a product’s quality. Again, in this factor, the similar pattern with Package

with eye-catching designs can be observed. More than 75% of the participants

considered this as an important contributor to their buying decision, with the figures

for not important at all became the highest. It seems that in this tough time, many

consumers pay attention to other factors rather than the eye-catching designs or the

negative impact a product may have on the environment.

32


The fifth factor is recommended from others. % of the participants considered this

factor Important. To explain, the period of time from February to April 2020 was a

tough time for both retailers and the customers. During this time, customers tend to

turn to each other for recommendations on buying stuff. Concerns for the spread of

the disease, plus the state of being panic makes the customers confused not knowing

what to do, or what to buy to prepare for the worst case. Although the locals spend

more time getting updated on news and the progress of the pandemic, most of the

updates were about the increasing infected cases in Vietnam and around the world,

and recommendations on staying healthy by wearing masks and washing hands

more frequently. Therefore, the majority of the respondents considered this factor an

important contributor.

The next factor is excellent product quality. This factor share the similar pattern

observed in the second factor – price. Highly important and considerably important

received the highest figure, with the percentage is 80% and 60% relatively. This

means price and product quality play a crucial role in affecting a customer’s purchase

decision. The final factor is the product is attached with another product(s) I am in

need of. Only not more than 25% of the respondents ranked this as important factor

contributed much to their final decision.

b. When customers did not choose instant noodles as one of their essentialities

for stockpiling.

If the customers chose NO as the answer for the question “Did you purchase instant

noodles in preparation for the national lockdown in April?”, they would be taken to

the third part of the survey, where they can select multiple choices for the reasons

why they did not instant noodles. First of all, there was almost 14% of the

respondents chose not to buy instant noodles to prepare for the national lockdown’s

stockpiling.

Looking from all perspective as a customer, such as demand for the product,

concerns for health, financial situation, environment-related issues, or the availability

and the accessibility of the product, plus based on previous work experience, the

researcher created a list of the reasons that most possibly lead to their not buying

noodles decision.

33


• Unnecessary for stockings

• Concern of health benefits

• Substitution products

• Because too many people were hunting for this product

• Budget constraint

• Nearby distribution channels did not sell this product

• Environmental reasons

• The brand I prefer is temporarily out-of-stock

• I do not see the benefits in stockings

Among all of the reasons listed above, the forth one, which is I did not purchase

because too many people were hunting for this product, received the highest

responses. 82% in the total of 14% of the respondents claiming not to buy instant

noodles thought that the fact that too many people were hunting for this product

became a prevention for them to consider buying it.

Figure 9. Percentage of various reasons for not buying instant noodles

When too many people rushed to the noodles area to grab boxes of instant noodles,

the shelves quickly became empty and created a temporarily out-of-stock situation.

Although the supermarket staff tried their best keeping the shelves filled with goods

by constantly loading new products up, there were some moments that these shelves

were caught entirely empty with no products displayed. Several customers, when

arriving to this area, assumed that due to the panic-buying, instant noodles became

34


scarce and no longer available. They decided not to buy it anymore and turn to other

substitute products.

This can be explained as a failed message from the retailers to the customers. While

the goods are fully sufficient in the storage waiting to be delivered to the selling area,

customers assumed the product is out-of-stock. Standing from a market researcher’s

point of view, the author cannot blame the retailers for their miscommunication with

the customers. Back to the time of February and March, locals were in panic not

knowing what to buy and made decisions based on group’s suggestions. Although

the retailers have anticipated the soaring demand for instant noodles, the fact that a

large number of customers rushed to the supermarkets at once was an unexpected

thing to deal with. Many supermarkets learned their lesson and decided to post an

announcement outside the store saying that instant noodles and rice were fully

loaded to the shelves and certainly available to everyone; kindly make a line and

keep a two-meter distance when entering the supermarket.

4.2 Qualitative results

Table 2. Qualitative research analysis

The impacts of national lockdown on customer behavior for instant noodles

Participant

group

Shopping

experiences

Spending on

the product

Advantages Disadvantages

Housewife - Often buy

offline at the

store due to

having free

time

- Start to

switch to

online

gradually

- Spend more

on cheap-

priced

products due

to budget

constraint

- Feel more

convenient and

enjoyable

when

purchasing this

product online

(no need to

carry home big

heavy boxes)

- Extra fee for

shipping

process and

delivery

service

Student - remain

buying at the

store for better

- spend more

on high-priced

products

because no

- feel more

comfortable

and trustful

- fear for the

risk of infection

when going out

35


quality

ínpection

schooling

saves gas fee

and snack fee

buying directly

at the store

Office worker - Busy working

schedules ->

Increase

shopping

activities

online, stop

buying offline

- Tightened the

budget by

spending more

on cheap-

prices

None - Concerns for

cyber

securities

In order to gather qualitative data, semi-structured interviews with open questions were

conducted. Amongst the four participants, three out ouf four answered yes to the

question of choosing noodles as a preference for stocking. Therefore, table 2 indicated

the impacts of national lockdown on their purchase behaviors on noodles.

The participants were divided into three groups based on their background. The first

group is a housewife who is also the shopper for the whole family. As having plenty of

free time, she often visits the store physically to browse and buy instant noodles on the

weekend. However, since the implementation of national lockdown on April, she claimed

to start switching to online platforms for purchasing instant noodles. National lockdown

both directly and indirectly negatively affect her financial budget, leading her to tighten

her spending on instant noodles. The good side of the national lockdown is that she had

a chance to get accustomed to online shopping, thus finding it convenient because she

did not have to carry the big boxes home. However, high extra costs on delivery services,

particularly to those who live far away from the central areas, is the disadvantage brought

by national lockdown.

The second group is a university student. This person enjoys offline shopping at the

store, and remain the same purchase behavior during national lockdown. To explain, he

claimed that purchasing at the store makes it easier to insepct the product quality. In

terms of spending behavior, national lockdown actually gave him a chance to save more

money due to no cost spent on gasoline travelling to school and snacks during the

breaks. Therefore, he spent more on products with higher prices, explaining that higher-

priced products represent bigger weight and better product quality.

36


The final group is an office worker, who is a friend of the author. Usually she has busy

working schedules from 9AM to 5PM. However, due to national lockdown, she were

forced to work from home and was assigned more tasks than usual. This makes her

even busier than normal, leading her to increase their online shopping activities. In terms

of spending behavior, she claimed that the work-from-home policy negatively affect her

financial budget, and her salary was cut down in half. Therefore, she chose to spend

more on low-priced instant noodles to save money.

While national lockdown brought no advantages in her changes in customer behavior for

instant noodles, it did bring many disadvantages. Frequent online shopping activites

made her concerned for cyber securities. She stated that she does not trust the

operations of online platforms entirely, thus sometimes buy goods offline. However,

national lockdown made her switich to online shopping completely, which triggered her

worries for confidentiality in identity and other cyber security issues.

The other participant – who chose not to buy instant noodles as a product for stocking –

is a friend of the author’s and currently working as an office worker. During the

implementation of national lockdown, her company issed the work-from-home policy.

Similarly to the other participant, who is also an office worker, she had to increase her

online shopping frequency to stock up on food. She claimed that she preferred other

substitute products such as rice or rice instant noodles. This is due to her concern for

health regarding instant noodles. Furthermore, when asked about personal point of view,

she stated that she also did want to buy the products that had been hunted by too many

people, and would prefer others that are less faviorite.

37


5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Conclusion

The arrival of COVID-19 in Vietnam from the beginning of 2020 caused several

interruptions and changes in social and economical life. Although handling the situation

well at the beginning of the year, Vietnam rapidly recorded increasing numbers of

infected cases in the second wave from 6th of March, leading the number of infected

patients, from 16 in the first round, up to almost 300 in the second round.

Realizing the urgent need to implement stricter prevention regulations, on 1st April, 2020,

Vietnam government officially issued national lockdown announcement. The

implementation of national lockdown had a huge impact on the changes of Vietnamese

customer behavior. Customers were observed to reduce the frequency of physically

visiting and increase online shopping significantly. Spending on outdoors entertainment

activities was also cut down to focus more essential needs. Significantly increasing

stock-up-on-goods occurred in some major cities that eventually leads to panic-buying

behaviors. Customers at this time buy not only necessities but also daily groceries.

Not only the customers influenced by the enforcement of national lockdown, the retailers

also experienced several difficulties. The miscommunication between the retailers and

the customers regarding in-store goods availability have been learnt. Additionally,

retailers can turn difficulties to opportunities by leveraging the power of social distancing

and digitalizing their services. Retailers can either establish their own online shopping

platfomrs and run promotion campaigns to retain loyal customers, or collaborate with

other digitalized coroporates to expand the online operations.

In terms of customer behavior on instant noodles, there were high demands for this

product started from the beginning of March and continued to be on the rise during April.

The majority of the survey participants claimed they chose instant noodles as a product

for stocking. Negative impacts on the financial budget from COVID-19 make customers

more price-sensitive, thus they prefer to spend more on cheap-priced products. Price

and quality of the product play a significant role in contributing to the decision of buying

noodles.

38


The implementation of national lockdown brought several changes on customer behavior

on instant noodles, one of which is the gradual switch to online platforms from offline

purchase. While part of the customers feel comfortable and convenient using online

platforms, other were worried about cyber insecurities and difficulties in inspecting the

product quality. National lockdown means no schools, no working at the office, and

avoidance to crowded places. While this may help some customers save money from

travelling to places, it may also mean salary cut down and constrant budget. This hugely

affects the spending patterns of customers, because it decides at what price range of

instant noodles the customers should spend on.

5.2 Recommendations for further academic research

As the complicated progress of COVID-19 continues to occur, both in Vietnam and other

countries in the region, further research on how the disease expected to be affecting

customers as well as the retailers would be an ideal topic. The COVID-19 situation is

considered different in each nation, yet there are certainly some general similarities that

Vietnam can learn on to better deal with the disease, as well as to have better policies

and regulations that benefit both the economy and the consumers.

Besides, studies with a macro perspective could be another good topic for further

research. How the COVID-19 influences the economy, the political relationships with

other countries due to border closing and delay in the supply chain business remain

limited and underdeveloped. Furthermore, it is important to also know how the macro

impacts eventually affect the corporations and the customers. More studies on these

topics should also be conducted, as it would benefit the authority and the policy makers

in dealing with the disease and its relating complications more efficiently.

Another thought on topic for further research is forecast on the economy and the

operations of retailers at the post-COVID-19 era. Though some people might feel it is

too optimistic and early to conduct research or forecast the scenarios at the post-

pandemic era, it is still better to have an opinion in advance on what would happen next

for better preparation and better recovery. As the author did research for references on

this topic, there was not official released articles and reports so far. Since the progress

of the disease is expected to continue to get more complicated, it is challenging to

distinctly draw broad scenarios of what would occur next. However, based on current

39


recorded data and experiences, plus lessons learnt from the neighborhood countries,

research market experts consider it is not too difficult to generate anticipations.

40


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Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A., 2016. Research Methods for Business

Students. 7 toim. s.l.:Pearson Education. Sheth, J. N., S., S. R. & Shama, A., 2000.

The Antecedents and Consequences of Customer-Centric Marketing. Journal of the

Academy of Marketing Science, 28(1), p. 57.

Appendix 1


Survey questions

Section 1: Background information and selection of instant noodles for stocking

activity

Your gender / giới tính của bạn

Male / Nam Female / Nữ Other / Khác

Your age / Độ tuổi của bạn

15 - 20 years old / tuổi 21 - 30 years old / tuổi

31 - 40 years old / tuổi > 40 years old / tuổi

Your martial status / Tình trạng hôn nhân

Single / Độc than Married / Đã kết hôn

Married & have children / Đã kết hôn & có con Other / Khác

Your employment status at the point of national lockdown (April 2020) / Tại thời

điểm toàn quốc giãn cách xã hội (04/2020), bạn là:

Student / Học sinh - sinh viên

Working part-time / Làm việc bán thời gian

Working fulltime / Làm việc toàn thời gian

Housewife / Nội trợ

Unemployeed / Không có việc làm

Unemployed due to job cut down / Tôi bị mất việc vì Covid-19

Other / khác

Your monthly income on the period of national lockdown (Apr, 2020) / Thu nhập

hằng tháng của bạn tại thời điểm toàn quốc ban hành giãn cách xã hội (04/ 2020)

I do not earn money / Tôi không có nguồn thu nhập

< 1,000,000 VND

1,000,000 VND - 10,000,000 VND

11,000,000 VND - 20,000,000 VND

21,000,000 VND - 30,000,000 VND

> 30,000,000 VND

Did you purchase instant noodles in preparation for the national lockdown on

April? / Bạn có mua mì gói để dự trữ cho đợt giãn cách xã hội toàn quốc vào tháng

4 không?

Yes / Có

No / Không

Appendix 1


Section 2: For those who chose Yes for the selection of instant noodles for

stocking

In what amount you chose to buy this product / Bạn chọn mua mì gói theo số lượng nào?

Separate pack / Gói lẻ

An 8-packed or 10-packed set / Set 8 gói hoặc10 gói

A 30-packed box / Thùng 30 gói

More than a box (> 30 packs) / Nhiều hơn 1 thùng ( > 30 gói)

At what price you chose to buy the product? / Bạn đã mua sản phẩm này ở mức

giá nào?

No more than 5,000 VND a pack / không quá 5,000 VND / gói

6,000 VND - 15,000 VND a pack / 6,000 VND - 15,000 VND / gói

More than 15,000 VND a pack / lớn hơn 15,000 VND / gói

Rate from 1 to 5 the following factors that impact your purchase decision / Xếp

hạng từ 1 đến 5 các yếu tố dưới đây ảnh hưởng đến quyết định mua một sản phẩm

mì gói

Brand / Thương Hiệu

Price / Giá Cả

Package with eye-catching designs / Thiết kế bao bì đẹp mắt

Eco-friendly package / Sản phẩm có bao bì thân thiện với môi trường

Recommended from others / Được giới thiệu từ người quen

Excellent product quality (nice taste, rich-flavored soup) / Chất lượng sản phẩm tốt

(hương vị thơm ngon, sợi mì dai giòn, nước sốt đậm vị)

The product is attached with another product(s) I am in need of / Sản phẩm có tặng

kèm sản phẩm khác mà tôi đang cần

List of level of the importance

1. Not Important / Không quan trọng

2. Slight Important / Phần nào quan trọng

3. Important / Quan trọng

4. Considerably Important / Quan trọng đáng kể

5. Highly Important / Rất quan trọng

Section 3: For those who chose No for the selection of instant noodles for stocking

Select the reason(s) you did not purchase instant noodles for stockings / Vui lòng chọn

một hoặc nhiều lý do cho việc bạn đã không mua mì gói để tích trữ

Unnecessary products for stockings / Sản phẩm không cần thiết cho việc tích trữ

Appendix 1


Concern of health benefits / Quan ngại về các vấn đề sức khỏe từ mì gói

Substitution products (dried rice-noodles) / Tôi lựa chọn các sản phẩm thay thế (bún

khô, miến khô, phở khô, v.v...)

I did not purchase because too many people were hunting for this product / Tôi không

mua vì có quá nhiều người cũng mua sản phẩm này

Budget constraint (I did not afford the product) / Giới hạn về mặt tài chính (Tôi không

đủ tiền mua sản phẩm này)

Nearby distribution channels did not sell this product / Những kênh phân phối gần nơi

tôi sống không bán sản phẩm này

Environmental reasons (product is not eco-friendly) / Quan ngại về vấn đề môi trường

(sản phẩm không thân thiện với môi trường vì có quá nhiều bao bì nhựa đóng gói)

The brand I prefer is temporarily out-of-stock / Thương hiệu tôi muốn mua tạm thời

hết hàng

I do not see the benefits in stockings / Tôi không thấy lợi ích của việc mua trữ hàng

hóa

thuy nguyen vietnamese customer behavior on instant

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