When turning off ads results in nearly zero orders, it is a sign that your brand does not yet exist in the minds of customers. A true brand creates active demand; customers seek you out because they remember your name, not just because they saw a banner. The solution is to change the budget ratio: invest adequately in long-term brand building alongside short-term conversions.
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There is a test that any online shop owner can do today: turn off all ads for two weeks. If orders drop to nearly zero, the issue is not with the budget or a faulty algorithm. It is a sign that your brand does not truly exist in the minds of customers.
Sales machines and brands: two different things.
A sales machine works well when you pump money into it. Stopping the pump means stopping the run. A brand is different. It creates pull from within: customers remember the name, actively seek it out, and recommend it to others without you having to pay for each impression.
Most online retail shops in Vietnam are currently operating like the first machine. It’s not that they don’t want to build a brand, but the pressure for short-term sales causes every budget dollar to be poured into conversion advertising. Building identity and brand storytelling is put on hold, waiting for "when we are bigger, we will do it."
When platform fees account for nearly half of revenue, there is no margin for error. And the most common mistake is not running ads incorrectly, but having nothing exist outside of ads.
Customer acquisition costs are rising: growth trap.
The cost of acquiring new customers (CAC, which is the cost to obtain an order from someone who is not familiar with you) in global e-commerce has risen sharply in recent years. The reason is the increasing competition for advertising across all platforms. This loop is very familiar: run ads and you get orders, turn off ads and orders stop. Because you cannot afford to stop, you must keep running ads at ever-increasing costs.
Meanwhile, the cost of retaining a loyal customer is much lower than continuously attracting new customers. The LTV:CAC ratio (lifetime value of a customer compared to acquisition cost) at 3:1 is often seen as the minimum sustainable threshold. Below that, businesses grow in a way that breaks the bottom: bringing in as much as they lose.
The 60/40 rule: budget allocation is different from what you are doing.
Research by Les Binet and Peter Field for the UK Advertising Practice Association (IPA) indicates an optimal ratio for most industries. This is to allocate about 60% of the marketing budget to long-term brand building and 40% to short-term sales activation.
Sales activation works short-term. Brand building works long-term. Both need each other, but cannot replace one another.
Les Binet & Peter Field, The Long and the Short of It, IPA, 2013
Most Vietnamese online shops are running the reverse ratio. Almost 100% of the budget is spent on immediate conversion ads, while brand building is at zero. The result: the machine runs well in the short term but accumulates nothing to gradually reduce dependence on ads.
60/40 is not an absolute number. For completely new brands, the ratio may lean more towards activation in the early stages. But the principle does not change: without a portion dedicated to brand building, you will never escape the loop of running ads forever.
Building on rented land: platform risk.
When your entire sales channel is on Shopee, TikTok Shop, or any other platform, you are building a house on rented land. The platform changes its algorithms, increases fees, or allows competitors to advertise right under your products. You have no control.
More importantly, customers on the platform remember the platform name, not yours. They return to Shopee to buy, not to find your brand. This means that all your marketing efforts are indirectly building assets for the platform, not for yourself.
A sign that you are selling products but do not have a brand.
Not every shop needs to build a full brand right from the start. But there are specific signs that indicate you are in a purely sales machine phase, and the risks are increasing:
- Turning off ads for two weeks results in orders dropping below 20% of normal.
- Customers cannot describe who you are beyond the product name and price.
- No one is searching for your brand name directly on Google.
- Customers make a purchase once and do not return unless they see discount ads.
- Competitors selling the same product at a slightly lower price means you lose orders immediately.
- You compete by lowering prices more than by other reasons to choose.
Next step: adjust the budget ratio
Paid advertising is a necessary tool, especially in the early stages and when needing to boost revenue. The problem only arises when it becomes the sole means, preventing you from ever breaking free from dependence.
Building a brand in retail does not mean spending millions on TV commercials or hiring large media companies. It starts with more specific actions: having a real reason for customers to choose you over competitors, consistent identity everywhere customers encounter the brand, and a clear enough story for customers to remember and share. This is the foundation for advertising to work more effectively, not to replace advertising.
Branding does not eliminate the need for marketing. It ensures that every marketing dollar you spend accumulates into an asset rather than evaporating when campaigns are turned off.
References
Binet & Field, The Long and the Short of It, IPA, 2013. Byron Sharp, How Brands Grow, Oxford University Press, 2010. Kantar BrandZ Global Report, around 2020. Research on customer acquisition costs in e-commerce, Shopee Vietnam, and industry reports 2024–2025.