Vietnam is the country we quote most often after a first SEA conversation. Phone use is dense, venue owners understand revenue share, and a 30–80 cabinet pilot can be read in weeks. The trap is treating Vietnam like “one QR for the whole country.” MoMo and ZaloPay are weekly KPI discussions, not logos on a slide.
Where pilots actually live
- Ho Chi Minh City — drink shops, chain F&B, mall food courts, late-night streets.
- Hanoi — cafes, campuses, and mixed retail where dwell time is long.
- Da Nang / tourism strips — only after you have a refill team; seasonal GMV lies.
Start with one city cluster and one venue type. Copy winners. Do not mix 4-slot stacks and native 8-slot stacks in the same 40-unit batch unless you want two spare lists.
Hardware we see on first POs
- 4-slot station on counters and drink shops.
- 6-slot stackable when a chain already proved 4-slot ROI.
- Cables as a side SKU in stores that already own the rental flow — not as the first SKU.
A recent F&B chain program we supported: 34 stores, 6-slot units, MoMo/ZaloPay docking. That pattern is documented on the Vietnam F&B case page.
Payments and software
Scope wallet docking at OEM kickoff. Card-only checkout still kills conversion on many Vietnamese venues. White-label SaaS is enough for a pilot; an App Store listing can wait until the cluster is stable. See the docking list on OEM / white-label.
Docs and after-sales
Export packs need CE/FCC/RoHS on the program and UN38.3 + MSDS matched to the cells on the invoice. Spare parts into HCMC typically move in a few days once the SKU is frozen. We are building a parts buffer in Ho Chi Minh City — ask on the quote if that window matters to your SLA.
For the generic playbook (SKU family, 8-week pilot, money), use How to start in 2026. Regional framing: why SEA first.