A new report by YouGov, an international market research firm, crowns South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung as top brand in Vietnam in 2021, finishing ahead of more than 350 companies. Samsung outranked flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, which topped last year’s ranking.
YouGov’s Best Brand Rankings report measured brands’ overall health, taking into account consumers’ impression, satisfaction and recommendation, as well as product quality, value and reputation. The scores were taken from more than 54,700 interviews with Vietnamese consumers between October 2020 and September 2021.
Samsung scored 54.7, while Vietnam Airlines stood 2nd with a score of 48.3. In 3rd place was e-commerce giant Shopee with 41.9. Japanese electronics company Panasonic and Vietnamese brands The Gio Di Dong, Hao Hao, Omachi, Biti’s, Kinh Do and MoMo complete the top 10 brands in the country.
UK-based YouGov said that the pandemic, with the grounding of flights and travel restrictions, appears to have hurt Vietnam Airlines’ score, which was 61.5 last year. Meanwhile, as online retail thrived during lockdowns, digital devices and e-commerce platforms moved up the rankings. In 2020 Samsung and Shopee were at 2nd and 7th, respectively.
The new rankings “show that despite the pandemic, the health of the biggest companies remains robust in the minds of consumers. Both Samsung and Vietnam Airlines are trusted, valued and respected in the Vietnamese market, with positive reputations and strong brand health across all metrics.”
Known for its high-quality consumer smartphones, Samsung’s market share in Vietnam continuously increases. In the second quarter of 2020, it became the biggest-selling smartphone in the country after posting 4% annual sales growth, surpassing sales of China’s Oppo and Vivo and Vietnam’s VinSmart. Beyond smartphones, Samsung also manufactures appliances, semiconductors, and chips.
“Acknowledged as one of the biggest enterprises in Vietnam, we have been striving to invest in staff development, offer cutting-edge products and services, show corporate responsibility to the local community, and contribute to economic growth as well as social development,” said Kevin Lee, president at Samsung Vietnam. “We are delighted that our long-term commitment to Vietnam has been reciprocated and that consumers value our brand, products and services.”
With its six factories across Vietnam and a $220-million research and development center under construction in Hanoi, the Korean tech company has already invested more than $17.7 billion — the biggest foreign investment in Vietnam so far. It’s also considered the largest foreign employer in the country, with about 110,000 workers.
Amidst the long lockdown and restrictions on working during Vietnam’s worst COVID-19 outbreak, Samsung Vietnam was still able to post an 10% increase in exports in the first seven months of 2021, compared with the same period a year ago, according to local media.
When Samsung started to heavily invest in Vietnam in 2008 as part of its supply chain shift from China, the company made the Southeast Asian country its export base to the global market.
The research and development center, set to be the largest in Southeast Asia, is to be completed by the end of next year. It will house some 3,000 mobile device researchers. Samsung is also actively hiring thousands of production staff for its Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen factories as it expands production of its flagship phones Z Fold and Z Flip from 17 million to 25 million units a year.