Marketing for consumer brands and retail in Vietnam
Beauty & supplements · Packaged goods · Fashion & footwear · Specialty retail chains
The category that spends most on digital in Vietnam, and the one where the gap between a good report and real profit is widest.
Short answer
Consumer brands and retail spend more on digital in Vietnam than any other category, most of it through marketplaces, creators and livestream. The pattern is consistent: ROAS looks strong while profit after marketplace commission, voucher funding and creator fees stays flat. A second issue specific to foreign brands is advertising compliance, which in regulated categories lands on the brand rather than the agency. MWY rebuilds profit after advertising cost, product by product, and reviews content from a compliance angle.
How the money is made
We group these categories because the money travels the same path, not because they sell the same thing.
1
Buy reach
Meta, TikTok, Google, and advertising inside the marketplaces themselves.
2
Convert to orders
Marketplace storefronts, the web store, livestream, affiliate, discount codes.
3
Bring customers back
Where profit is decided, and the most commonly neglected step.
Five questions this category hears most
What is left after marketplace commission, vouchers and creator fees?
Commission, voucher funding and creator fees are all high here. ROAS subtracts none of them, so the reported number is a good deal better than the real one.
How much of revenue depends on a single marketplace?
One change to commission policy or ranking can wipe out a quarter's margin. Most brands discover their concentration only after it hurts.
Are creators and affiliates profitable, or buying revenue?
Commission plus voucher funding plus content production usually exceeds the product margin, but the pieces are rarely added up in one place.
Is your marketplace price undercutting your distributors?
A constant source of friction and rarely put on the table. Your distributors see the marketplace price before you do.
Do your ads comply with Vietnamese rules for your category?
Beauty, supplements and food carry content restrictions. The penalty lands on the brand, not on the agency or the creator who wrote the post.
Advertising compliance risk
MWY includes this section in the audit report for regulated categories. It is not legal advice — we point to what your legal team should review.
- Efficacy claims overstated in ads, landing pages and creator posts
- Missing or incorrect mandatory wording for supplements and food
- Direct comparison with a named competitor product
- Before-and-after imagery without substantiation
- Creator-written content published without brand approval
Metrics worth tracking
And the measurement mistake that usually comes with each.
Profit after ad cost
Per product, not in aggregate.
Common mistake: using ROAS in its place.
Cost to acquire a new customer
New and returning kept separate.
Common mistake: blending them, so returning customers flatter the figure.
Repeat purchase rate
By cohort of first purchase month.
Common mistake: measured across all customers, hiding the trend.
Customer lifetime value
Only trustworthy after two quarters of clean data.
Common mistake: extrapolated from one good month.
Platform concentration
Share of revenue from the largest channel.
Common mistake: nobody tracks it until that channel changes its terms.
What MWY does in this category
- Rebuild profit after advertising cost, product by product
- Measure single-marketplace dependence and propose a path to reduce it
- Assess creator, affiliate and livestream programmes against one cost framework
- Review pricing conflict between marketplaces and the distribution channel
- Review ad and creator content for compliance, flagging what legal must see
Other categories, same revenue mechanism
Start by learning the real number
The audit reviews your entire digital operation in Vietnam in four weeks.