The rapid growth of the Vietnam tablet market is boosting the potential of eCommerce in the fast-maturing Southeast Asian nation.

New figures from GfK this week show the growing number of lower priced entry level tablets has seen a double digit growth in sales in first five months of this year – or 149,000 extra units – to reach 582,000.

GfK projects the media tablet market will achieve even higher sales in the third quarter of the year with the anticipated back to school promotions, with annual sales estimated to hit 1.9 million for the year.

Yet the total amount spent on tablets has fallen by about five per cent, due to the greater contribution of those lower value media tablet models.

“Over three in every four (76 per cent) media tablets sold so far in 2015 cost less than US$300, as compared to just one in two (50 per cent) in 2014; signifying a strong shift in market trends towards the low-end segment,” observed Tran Khoa Van, MD of GfK in Vietnam.

“The result of more media tablets being sold at lower prices brought about a shrinkage in the total market value in spite of strong consumer demand for the gadget.”

On the other hand, high-end media tablets priced above US$500 which accounted for 29 per cent of the total market’s sales volume had reduced by half to make up only 14 per cent share in the first five months of this year. A similar trend is seen in the US$300-500 segment, where its 22 per cent share last year was reduced to 11 per cent in 2015.

According to GfK findings, the average price of media tablets declined by 30 per cent from US$367 last year to US$259 this year. Although the number of brands catering to the Vietnamese market reduced from 56 to 49, the remaining players have introduced 20 more new models – from 278 to 298.

Another emerging trend is the rising popularity of smaller screen sized media tablets, specifically the 7.9” and below segment. Over seven in 10 (71 per cent) of media tablets purchased this year were of this size, up from its 62 per cent market share last year.

On the other hand, it was the 9-10” segment which reported a dwindled market share by half – from 26 to 13 per cent.

“Price erosion is a natural progression of a tech product’s lifecycle and the average price of media tablets will definitely be drifting down further from the low of US$250 reported in the latest tracked month of May,” said Van.