Vietnam’s products have begun conquering global markets.
Previously, Vietnamese retailers often had to rely on intermediaries in order to sell abroad; however, thanks to updated foreign distribution networks and e-commerce, exporting has never been easier.
As the world’s 24th-largest economy, Vietnam exported US$1.85 billion worth of goods in 2015, and that number is projected to continue rising.
Nishitoghe Yasuo, CEO of Aeon Vietnam, congratulated Vietnamese sellers for a recent increase in production quality, according to VietnamNet. Aeon bought US$200 million worth of products from 1,675 Vietnam-based suppliers in 2016. These products were sold at its 14,000 stores throughout Asia.
Auchan Retail Vietnam’s Albin Bertrand also commended Vietnam for offering high quality goods, especially coffee and tea, and said that so long as Vietnamese suppliers could tailor their goods to international consumers’ tastes, they would be successful in international supermarkets, the news source shares.
Of course, when most people think of the country in terms of exports, perhaps they think of coffee, food and a wide assortment of textiles. However, MIT’s Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) reported that Vietnam’s top three exports are, surprisingly, broadcasting equipment, integrated circuits and computers. Further down the list, though, you’ll find leather footwear, textile footwear and US$1.88 billion worth of crustaceans.
One way in which Vietnam is accessing a larger global market is through e-commerce, reports VNS. During a Hanoi-based workshop last month, CEO of Vorwarts GmbH Andre Aslund shared with the news source that the quality of Vietnamese textiles meets EU consumer requirements and that “Seventy-six percent of people (in the EU) use mobile phones to shop. Fifty percent of them buy products through e-commerce site Amazon.”
Historically, it has been difficult for Vietnamese companies to gain the respect of western consumers due to low brand loyalty. Now, more people are willing to try a new product solely based off of customer reviews, giving a wider variety of vendors potential for success.
E-commerce is a safe option for Vietnamese vendors as well, considering the recent friction regarding human rights surrounding the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement.
In the dizzying web of international trade, Vietnam is the 11th-largest agricultural export market for the US, and one of the products which the US provides Vietnam is cotton. Much of this goes into Vietnamese textiles and is then processed for re-export.
The top export destinations of Vietnam are the United States, China, Japan and South Korea. Vietnam’s largest ASEAN export partner is Thailand.
[Photo via Thanh Nien]
