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Without a good location for Vietnamese businesses to introduce and sell their products, small and medium-sized businesses will struggle to survive and develop. Photo: Huong Diu

Access to resources is difficult

According to Dr. Nguyen Van Than, Chairman of Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (VINASME), characterized Vietnam's economy as having more than 96 percent of small and medium enterprises, of which micro enterprises accounted for 62 percent. In the retail sector, this percentage is even higher. Retail infrastructure such as markets, supermarkets, trade centres, convenience stores and specialised stores increased rapidly but were unevenly distributed, concentrated mainly and strongly developed in cities and towns, while the large market in rural and mountainous areas, the market network is still too thin, the allocation of land fund for development of commercial infrastructure in many localities has not been paid enoughattention; while preferential policies on tax, land, credit are still limited, so businesses are not encouraged.

Not only that, small and micro retailers face difficulties like access to capital, high taxes and fees, administrative procedures and other costs to access land when opening a supermarket chain, the cost of applying for a construction permit, setting up a billboard andrenting business premises due to high real estate prices.

According to To Hoai Nam, member of the Central Steering Committee of the Campaign "Vietnamese people give priority to using Vietnamese goods", Permanent Vice Chairman and General Secretary of VINASME, not to lose at home, Vietnamese goods must pay attention to quality and price factors. All of that must be demonstrated by a very strong commitment to business awareness to commit to quality, price andservice.

“If choosing the most important point, I think that the business must start with commitment. With a commitment to quality, businesses cannot follow the immediate benefits. At the same time, this forces businesses to change in technology. Committing to consumers about the environment, businesses must respect society. To do that, on the side of the State must start from the policy, on the side of the business must start with commitment. Since then creating a good market, but only the market price and quality," To Hoai Nam emphasised.

Many small and medium enterprises also said it is necessary to improve connections in expanding the retail system and consumption of Vietnamese brand products to consumers. Accordingly, it is time to change the mindset of businesses and managers, improve the quality and products of global standards, the EU, Japan and the US and build the production chain, from production to consumption. Along with that, it is necessary to build large enterprises and corporations to develop Vietnamese products in a professional, systematic and comprehensive manner.

Looking forward to enjoying the privileges as foreign investors

Nguyen Huu Duong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of HoaBinh Co., Ltd., said that in commercial centres up to Vietnam standards up to 90 percent are owned and controlled by foreign corporations. Inland shopping centers, there are almost no tenants for sales due to the high rental prices. Meanwhile, Vietnam's goods will find itdifficult to enter the market because the design, appearance and quality are not equal to imported goods, while production costs are higher than imported goods, as well as marketing costs andsales are all high. Therefore, if there is no good place for Vietnamese businesses to introduce and sell their products, itwill be very difficult to survive and develop andthe risk of dissolution or bankruptcy is great, especially for with small and medium businesses.

Nguyen Huu Duong said Hoa Binh Company will cooperate with domestic supermarkets and professional trading companies to operate these trade centres; at the same time, coordinate with People's Committees of provinces, cities, districts and professional associations, products to support the production of goods and the purchase of goods by Vietnamese businesses.

“To carry out this proposal, we would like to enjoy the same preferential rent policy as foreign investors. We are also committed to reducing rental rates, providing cheaper products for consumers, supporting goods produced by Vietnamese small and medium enterprises to support Vietnamese goods and Vietnamese consumers. Specifically, only goods that Vietnam has not yet produced can be imported and put into it for sale, the selling price can only be added up to 5-10 percent of the cost price. With the introduction of free trade centers, leasing space will help small and medium-sized businesses to reduce selling costs, so product prices will be reduced by at least 30 percent compared to the current price,” Chairman of the Board of Directors HoaBinh Company said.