Shops for VIP clients stay safe from price storm

Despite the “price storm” which has forced the majority of Vietnamese consumers to fasten their belt, VIP clients do not intend to cut down spending, which explains why luxurious shops’ turnover remains unchanged in the difficult period.

“Please bring goods to me at 6.15 pm sharp. I will only have10 minutes free and I have to leave after that time. Remember to bring the ready prepared invoice. I will not be there after 6.15 pm,” a young girl in a blue dress, told the shop’s owner and left.

The owner of the cosmetics and spa shop on Tran Hung Dao Road in District 1 of HCM City quickly came out to give the guest a send-off. Looking into the list of the products she has to bring to the girl later in the afternoon, she said the total value of the products the girl has ordered is about 26 million dong.

Meanwhile, in Vietnam, a person with the monthly income of 10 million dong a month is listed as high income earner.

“The client spends 80 million dong within six months on cosmetics alone,” the owner said.

Hunting for original goods – the favorite pastime of VIP clients

Lang, the son of the owner of a luxury shop, which specializes in retailing wine, liquor and foodstuff on Nguyen Tri Phuong area in HCM City, came to a house on Le Van Sy Road to deliver a bottle of liquor.

“Are you TH, the master of the house?” he questioned. The man, who was standing in front of him said: “I am TH, but I am not the landlord, the mistress of the house is my wife”. Then he smiled and took the bottle of liquor which is priced at 70 million dong.

Quyen is always warmly welcomed every time when she comes to the jewelry shop on Nguyen Trung Truc Road in District 1. The saleswomen here always spend time to show her new products. Quyen is an “easy buyer”: she would accept to buy everything she finds beautiful or the original things which the saleswomen say there is no other copy in Vietnam, while she does not care about the prices.

The shop’s owner said that Quyen is a loyal VIP client of the shop. She spends about one billion dong on jewelry a year, and she never re-sells the jewelry items she buys before, like many other clients.

Wearing a Longin brand watch worth 40,000 dollars, Armani brand glasses and a Gucci brand bracelet; Quoc, 45, likes dropping into the shops which specialize in selling the products made for export, but remains unsold. Quoc said that the hobby of hunting for inventory export products can only be tasted in HCM City. He was happy with the T-shirt he had bought at just 120,000 dong.

Luxurious shops live on VIP clients

The high inflation and the price storm have in no way affected the business of the traders of products with strong brands, because their main clients are VIPs, who never worry about money.

VIP clients refer to the customers who spend tens of millions of dong a year to buy products at the same shops. Every company which distributes cosmetics and perfume products, household articles or jewelries, has from tens to hundreds of VIP clients. Therefore, their sales prove to be very stable of several hundreds of millions of dong or several billions of dong a year.

According to Nguyen Phuong Thao, the distributor of QHome brand household articles, there are more and more VIP clients. Most of them have their own tastes and they are very keen on fashion and delicate in interior decoration. The clients have tens of different sets of dishes, every of which is worth millions or tens of millions of dong.

To date, the most expensive set of jewelries–Cao Jewelry Shop has sold has the sale price of 11 billion dong. My Hanh, the brand director, said that most of the clients of Cao Jewelry are VIPs, who order the sets of jewelries which are designed specifically to their orders. In general, every set of the jewelries has the sale price of several billions of dong. Meanwhile, there are numerous clients, who purchase the jewelry items worth hundreds of millions of dong.

The owner of a fashion shop for men on Ly Tu Trong street in district 1, said that he just needs three VIP clients a week to have enough turnover, because the volume of products a VIP purchases is equal to that of tens of other normal clients.

He said that VIP clients always care about the quality of service rather than the sale prices. They also want to find many things at the same place, therefore, besides shirts; he has decided to sell ties, perfumes and underwear as well. – SGTT

Tags: vietnam retail industry, Vietnam retail market