International markets open more widely to Vietnamese goods
Vietnamese products have more opportunities than ever before to conquer the world market. Through foreign distribution networks and global e-commerce websites, Vietnamese products have entered choosy markets without the need to use many intermediaries as in the past.
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Nishitoghe Yasuo, CEO of Aeon Vietnam, said at a workshop held recently that the quality of goods from Vietnamese suppliers has improved.
In 2016, Aeon bought US$200 million worth of products from 1,675 Vietnamese suppliers to sell at its 14,000 shops in Asia and Japan.
Albin Bertrand from Auchan Retail Vietnam also said Vietnam has many high-quality products such as coffee and tea, and if businesses can make products fitting international consumers’ tastes, they can be accepted by supermarket chains worldwide.
He said Auchan is considering building goods collection centers in Vietnam which would be in charge of collecting goods to distribute through the global Auchan chain.
A representative of Central Group said a subsidiary in charge of collecting and exporting Vietnam’s products exported US$25 million worth of products to Europe in 2015.
However, it is still a big challenge to export products to the European market. Vietnamese businesses have been advised to take full advantage of e-commerce by displaying goods on Amazon to boost sales.
Andre Aslund, a marketing expert from Amazon, said there are two challenges for Vietnamese goods to enter the EU through e-commerce – a complicated legal system and strict requirements on product quality and design.
However, he said European consumers have changed their behavior that benefits Vietnam.
In the past, they bought goods based on the fame of brands. But now, they check information about products from different information sources. They also tend to check comments about products and consult with other consumers. This is a great opportunity for products from developing countries like Vietnam.
Besides Amazon, many Vietnamese enterprises try to sell products via Alibaba. A representative of Hai San 404 in Can Tho City said sales through Alibaba.com now account for 60% of its total export turnover.
Le Thi Thanh Hang, director of Elmaco, said her company has been exporting online for the last five years and is satisfied with the sales channel because it helps open new markets at very reasonable costs.
Tran Quang Vuong, president of GC Food USA, noted that American consumers favor products sourced from Vietnam and packed in the US.
He suggested that the State create favorable conditions to set up bonded warehouses to help businesses provide goods to foreign distribution chains, thus helping boost exports.
