(Japanese Site)
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| After Sales, Support Services Keep Compaq No. 1 in Vietnam
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May 28, 1998 (HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam) -- Vietnamese end users
overwhelmingly voted Compaq Computer Corp. as the most popular
brand name for imported desktop computers, largely due to its
after sales and support services.
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A recent survey in Vietnam said 81.84 percent of users preferred
Compaq. Acer was second with 9.29 percent of users and IBM Corp.
was third with 8.86 percent.
Hoang Minh Chau, director of FPT Co., one of four main agents of
Compaq in Vietnam, explained that Compaq products have dominated
Vietnam's market not only because of their world-class quality,
but because of improved after sales and support services for the
last few years.
"Most Vietnamese users often think that U.S.-branded PCs have
similar quality," Chau said. "So the decisive factor for their
buy is not which brand, but how to keep the PC secure after the
buy," Chau added.
Chau also said that the habit of Vietnamese customers is to ask
"how long will you guarantee it for us" or "May I call you any
time I have trouble?" This is because in Vietnam trouble happens
not only because of the PC, but for other reasons such as
unstable power, software viruses and wrong use, Chau added. "The
user here in Vietnam often faces a lot of risks in running his or
her PC," Chau said.
Therefore, those who make customers feel safe after the sale will
hold 80 percent of the Vietnamese PC market. Compaq is such an
example, Chau said. From the beginning, Compaq implemented a
special strategy in Vietnam.
"We have very carefully selected our agents in the country to
appoint them to handle all supportive and after sales service,"
said R. Sivadas, Compaq's general manager of South
Asia/Indochina. For the time being, Sivadas said, the local
agents all proved to be good partners. They include 3C, FPT, Dong
Nam Associates and Thakaral Brothers.
FPT Co., which has a good reputation in Vietnam's IT community,
was appointed to provide maintenance for Compaq products and, for
the past few years, has successfully helped Compaq give users
"peace of mind."
In 1997, Compaq signed an agreement to help Vietnam's Ministry of
Education and Training educate students and technicians for IT
colleges.
"This program has brought more encouraging results. Currently,
Compaq has a strong influence in college community," FPT's Chau
said. "Vietnamese people used to like to have advice from
technicians or those who are, they think, masters of technology,"
Chau said.
He also said Comapq's policy in Vietnam is smart, because it
assisted Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training to
popularize IT among children.
"In this way, Compaq will create a majority of future end-users,"
he said.
Moreover, most technicians educated and trained under the Compaq
programs have been owners of PC outlets. "They naturally have
formed an excellent marketing network for Compaq in Vietnam,"
Chau observed.
Nguyen Trong, chairman of HCMC Computer Association (HCA) cum
editor-in-chief of Vietnam PC World Magazine, said in a statement
that the above-mentioned selection was based on a survey of 3,125
readers of PC World Vietnam, or 10 percent of its readership, in
April.
This is the second time the magazine and the HCA have co-
organized such a survey. This year's survey covered 24 products,
13 more than last year's. Trong also confirmed that Compaq's
services have gained confidence among customers in Vietnam.
For locally assembled PCs, those polled preferred T&H; by a large
margin (54.84 percent). Second place went to Genpacific (16.13
percent) and third to Microstar (10.48 percent).
Another U.S. brand name, Hewlett-Packard Co., won by a huge
margin as offering the most popular laser printers (96.31
percent) compared with only 3.69 percent who selected Epson Corp.
laser printers.
But when it comes to color ink jet printers, Epson took the lead,
winning 55.28 percent of the readers' preferences. HP got 40.13
percent of the votes.
Other results of PC World Vietnam and HCA's best IT products are:
Hard disk drives
Quantum: 66.31%
Seagate: 31.11%
Western Digital: 2.58%
Floppy disks
Maxell: 71.22%
Sony: 14.73%
3M: 14.05%
CD-ROM drives
Creative: 74.84%
Acer: 8.84%
Panasonic: 6.42%
Monitors
Acer: 32.15%
Compaq: 24.25%
Samsung: 24.14%
Modems
Motorola: 47.57%
US Robotics: 29.61%
Hayes: 13.59%
Sound cards
Creative: 80.79%
Yamaha: 19.21%
Network cards
3Com: 99.10%
Genius: 0.90%
Word processors
Microsoft Word: 99.92%
WordPerfect: 0.08%
Spreadsheets
Microsoft Excel: 99.58%
Lotus 1-2-3: 0.42%
Databases
Microsoft Access: 78.46%
FoxPro: 16.58%
Oracle: 4.96%
Browsers
Internet Explorer: 71.83%
Netscape Navigator: 28.17%
Most prestigious local company
FPT: 44.94%
Lac Viet: 22.88%
T&H;: 9.85%
Scitec: 4.58%
PC World VN: 4.58%
Seatic: 2.36%
Saigon Vi Tinh: 2.22%
(David Tran, Asia BizTech Correspondent)
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