Study from home sends demand for computers, webcams skyrocketing

FPT Shop, a nationwide electronic retail chain, said laptop sales from February 16-18 were five times higher than normal.

February 16 marked the end of the Lunar New Year holidays when many cities and provinces, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, announced that students would study from home until the end of the month as they sought to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Nguyen The Kha, director of telecoms-mobile products, FPT Shop said: "The sudden surge in demand for laptops came after schools announced classes would be online. We had anticipated higher demand but were still surprised by the increase."

Laptops priced at VND10-12 million ($434-520) were the most popular followed by brands like Dell, HP, Acer, and Asus that cost VND16-20 million.

There was also demand for high-end products costing VND20-30 million like Apple’s MacBook Pro and Microsoft’s Surface 7 Pro.

With online classes depending on videos, sellers also reported a spike in demand for webcams.

One shop on Thai Ha Street in Hanoi’s Dong Da District, where many electronics stores are clustered, reported unusually high sales of around 100 webcams a day between February 17-19.

Some stores ran out of stock just like in March last year when the coronavirus outbreak first began.

ShopDunk, a chain that sells Apple products, said iPad sales are typically modest, but in recent days it has accounted for 20 percent of total sales, second only to the iPhone 12 Pro Max.