The Gia Khang Furniture Company Ltd is a typical example. Before last September, it specialised in exporting high-grade wooden furniture mainly to the European market but its main customers are now residents in new urban areas.

Increasing incomes

Company director Tran Thi Men says, “For nearly one year we have found it difficult to find export contracts since many of our overseas customers had to minimize imports to cut costs due to the economic crisis.”

Recognising that there was a demand for high-grade wooden furniture among local residents thanks to increasing incomes, the company decided to sell furniture at local stores, Ms Men says.

“To make these high-grade furniture at affordable prices for domestic customers we have had to find ways to cut down the use of water and electricity, and reducing our staff,’ she said.

As a result, the selling prices of our wooden furniture have dropped by 15 to 20 percent. Customers that we target are high income earners so we have opened our shops in nearly new high grade urban areas such as those on Nguyen Huu Canh street and in district 2, Ms Men says.

The shift to the domestic market has helped her company stabilize and earn enough revenue to get it through.

Hoang Van Chuong, owner of the Hoang Anh fine arts and handicraft firm in District 7, says that in the past, a majority of the company’s products were exported, but the situation has taken a turn for the better.

“The rapid development of new urban areas in many districts in the city has increased the market’s furniture demand while exports hit a snag in the overseas market.

“To grasp this opportunity, we have increased the sales volume in the local market and achieved a positive turnover, “Chuong says.

Nguyen Thanh Tung in Binh Thach District was not involved in the export of wooden furniture earlier, but has entered the business by chance.

“Three months ago, I came to know that wooden furniture makers had large stockpiles and that many domestic consumers with high incomes favoured high-grade furniture, particularly European-styled ones. So, I decided to invest in the furniture trade,” Tung says.

High profits

“I opened my first shop on Thu Duc District’s Huu Nghi Street and then another one on Nguyen Huu Canh Street to attract customers from nearby new urban areas in the locality and district 2. Our business is expanding fast, he says.

Huynh Trung Du, owner of an interior furniture shop in district 7’s Tan Phu Ward, says, “Many people are engaged in selling export-quality wooden furniture.”

On Huynh Tan Phat Street alone, a new shop opens every two months, he adds.