Vietnam’s top 50 brands

Vietnamese consumers have selected Shopee as their best-loved brand as the ecommerce giant is now the country's most popular online marketplace. Shopee achieved the highest score for purchase frequency (91%) among all brands in Vietnam, cementing its popularity. It boasts over two million sellers, over 50 million downloads of its mobile app, and over 16 million daily views. Vietnamese use Shopee to purchase a range of products, including phones, TVs, motorcycles, cosmetics, clothing, and home goods.

 

The ranking stems from Campaign's authoritative list of Southeast Asia's top 50 brands, recently revealed at Campaign360 in partnership with research firm Milieu Insight.        

 

Six markets (Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore) were involved in the survey, in which recognised brands across 10 sectors were ranked using nine brand attributes, including awareness, purchase, quality, buying experience, customer service, trustworthiness, innovation, brand touchpoints (ease of use across all digital and offline brand interactions), and advocacy (degree of recommendation), to form their score.

 

Vietnam's Top 50 brands by overall score

Among the brands that made the top 10 were Vietnam's flag carrier, Vietnam Airlines, that placed second behind Shopee. And third place went to mobile and electronics giant Samsung that took the top spot overall for Southeast Asia. Online retailers dominated the list in Vietnam, with both regional ecommerce platforms like Shopee and Lazada alongside local retailers like Thế Giới Di Động all scoring highly. Aside from that, Vietnam's top 50 had a relatively balanced selection of ecommerce brands (9) fashion labels (9), fast-food brands (7), automotive (7), transport and delivery (6) and mobile and streaming service providers (4).

 

Let's have a closer look at the top performers. 

 

1. Shopee

 

The Singaporean ecommerce giant has risen to become Vietnam's most popular online marketplace. Compared to rivals in the same industry including Lazada, Tiki, Sendo, and TikTok, Shopee held approximately 70% of the retail sales market share on the platform in the third quarter of 2023. Shopee achieved the highest purchase frequency score in the list, as well as a top-five score for buying experience and was the brand that Vietnamese consumers are most likely to recommend. Shopee only fell behind other major brands when it came to quality, suggesting there is always room for improvement. 

 

2. Vietnam Airlines

 

Vietnam's flag carrier is one of only two local brands to make the top 10. Vietnam Airlines achieved the highest scores in the list for quality of product (81%), customer service (93%), touchpoints (76%) and trustworthiness (83%). The airline only fell behind when it came to purchase frequency as consumers obviously travel far less frequently than they shop for everyday goods. It's for that reason that Vietnam Airlines takes second place, but it beat out every other brand in virtually every other category in the list.

 

3. Samsung

 

Samsung achieved the highest brand awareness score of all brands in Vietnam. This comes as no surprise as Samsung is ever-present in Vietnam, but it was also among the top scorers for its product quality and trustworthiness. The Korean mobile and home electronics giant ranked first across Southeast Asia overall, but it took third place in Vietnam for being a consistently high scorer across all categories, except when it came to brands that Vietnamese would recommend to others, where it was not a top five scorer. 

 

4. KFC

 

Fast-food brands featured prominently among Vietnam's top 50 brands, but the clear market leader is KFC that finished in fourth position far ahead of global rivals like McDonald's and Burger King. Its fast and easy service earned it top five scores in the buying experience and customer service categories. And it ranked third overall for quality of product and trustworthiness. It also took second place behind Shopee as the brand that Vietnamese are most likely to recommend. 

 

5. Apple

 

Like in other markets, Apple's quality is its best advantage, and ranked second in the list for quality of product behind Vietnam Airlines. Apple was also more likely to be recommended by Vietnamese consumers than its Korean rival Samsung. The tech giant also beat Samsung in Vietnam on buying experience but slipped significantly below its rival in how it optimises across touchpoints. 

 

6. Grab / Grabfood

 

Critical for transport and food delivery, Grab is easy to use and makes life simpler. It ranked highly for its buying experience and customer service, but fell behind other top 10 brands when it came to trustworthiness and touchpoints.

 

7. Honda

 

Honda is one of the most successful motorcycle manufacturers in Vietnam, and accounts for the majority of sales in the market. The Japanese automaker ranked first in the list for buying experience (91%) and also ranked second for customer service. With its high-quality products and higher price point, purchase frequency was significantly lower than some of the other top 10 brands which impacted its overall score. However, Honda was the only automotive brand to make the top 10 and also received high scores for trustworthiness and brand awareness. 

 

8. Viettel

 

The largest mobile network operator in Vietnam powers most of the daily digital experience of consumers. It achieved its highest score in the customer service category, and even placed ahead of Samsung for buying experience. The telco's trustworthiness score also rates well, and only slipped outside the top 10 in the innovation category.

 

9. Nike

 

The only apparel brand to make Vietnam's top 10 is Nike. The majority of Nike's trainers are manufactured in Vietnam where it has 155 factories. Nike started its commercial venture in Vietnam in 1995 and it's no surprise that it benefits from a high brand awareness in the market. The world's largest supplier of athletic shoes was ranked highly for its customer service by Vietnamese consumers. It was also one of the best scorers in the trustworthiness category, only slipping outside the top 10 when it came to purchase frequency. 

 

10. Lotteria

 

The Korean fast-food restaurant chain is a big hit in Vietnam. It's popular for its burgers and fried chicken, accounting for one of the higher purchase frequency scores (76%) on the list. Vietnamese consumers also appreciate its fast and easy service ranking it highly in the buying experience and customer service categories. However, it fell outside the top 10 when it came to product quality and was beaten by its closest rival KFC in every category.