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
13
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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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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• 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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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TURKU UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES THESIS | Nguyen Thuy
recorded data and experiences, plus lessons learnt from the neighborhood countries,
research market experts consider it is not too difficult to generate anticipations.
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Appendix 1
TURKU UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES THESIS | Nguyen Thuy
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
TURKU UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES THESIS | Nguyen Thuy
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
TURKU UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES THESIS | Nguyen Thuy
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