Mobile apps becoming key tool for businesses

All kinds of businesses ranging from app developers to small traders are using mobile apps to develop their business since they offer multiple functions and solutions such as entertainment, online shopping, banking, and healthcare.

The apps have become tools for businesses to easily and conveniently approach customers, optimise operations and develop their brands and competitiveness.

Global data and business intelligence platform Statista reported that by 2025 the world mobile application market would be worth US$613 billion.

All companies want to get a piece of mobile advertising pie, it said.

But there are also other ways to monetise mobile apps besides advertising, it pointed out, the most popular being paid installs and in-app purchases.

In July this year 3 per cent of apps worldwide were monetised through paid installs, and 4 per cent through in-app purchases.

Advertising continued to lead by a large margin, with 35 per cent of app-developing companies relying on it, it reported.

The need to view advertising may be seen by users as a more tolerable alternative than the requirement to pay.

This greatly simplifies the task of attracting customers and reduces marketing costs per installation.

At the same time, advertising income could well cover the company’s financial needs and bring tangible profits.

In an interview with Việt Nam News, Valentina Petrova, head of in-app partnerships, Asia, Yandex, said the mobile app market is growing in Việt Nam, demonstrated by an impressive revenue of $982.1 million in 2023.

“Thanks to the high rate of smartphone and internet usage in Việt Nam, mobile applications have now become an important part of people's lives here.”

The majority of app users in Việt Nam are quite young and tech-savvy with more than 60 per cent of respondents aged under 30 saying they are willing to try new technologies, she said.

“This makes Việt Nam an attractive mobile application market.

“Việt Nam is a promising market for advertisers.”

A report from Rakuten Viber said Vietnamese spend 2.32 hours a day on social media and messaging apps, one minute more than the average global user, indicating that approaching customers through apps is an effective way for companies and small traders.

“Local businesses can reach their audiences through messaging as 73 per cent of Vietnamese customers also prefer to interact with brands through chat,” Viber said.

Its Viber for Business solution is used by more than 20,000 brands world-wide, it said.

Viber for Business offers advertising solutions like native ads, branded stickers and lenses, messaging solutions including business messages and chatbots, and forthcoming business calls and an OTP solution.

In another development, Viber recorded a growing interest in local brand-user interactions in the first half of 2023.

Average daily ad impressions reached 6.4 million with Vietnamese brands using ads to enhance their visibility and attract new users.

There is a 63 per cent year-on-year growth in delivered business messages, with brands increasingly using this tool to send personal 1-2-1 messages to their existing clientele base who gave consent to receive brand notifications, Viber added.