Experience in bringing Vietnamese brands to the world

	More national-branded firms join top 50 Vietnamese brands
	Vietnamese brands in the CPTPP market still modest
	Giving wings to Vietnamese brands in major markets

DH Foods products on Japanese supermarket shelves. Photo: ST

Golden time

Talking at the recent Vietnam Brand Scale Up Forum, Mr. Randolph Ng, General Director of New Customers, Asia Australia and India, Google Asia-Pacific assessed that now is a golden time for brands to Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City to develop in the international market. Accordingly, with the explosive growth of e-commerce, up to 1/3 of Americans prefer cross-border shopping through reputable e-commerce sites. Meanwhile, the US is Vietnam's largest export market.

Mr. Randolph Ng also pointed out a number of Vietnamese brands that have successfully conquered American customers thanks to e-commerce such as Abera, Yes4All... Among them, business in the field of cosmetics - this is not Vietnam’s strength when developing into developed markets, but Abera achieved millions of dollars in sales in the US market in the first year. Yes4All also sells fitness equipment, garden furniture, outdoor furniture... Currently, Yes4All has successfully sold on Amazon Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Singapore, UAE and is preparing to expand to other markets.

Mr. Dong Thanh Son, co-founder of the Abera brand, said that the cosmetics field is currently dominated by giants such as Japan and Korea, and recently domestic Chinese cosmetics have emerged. But Mr. Son assessed: "Vietnamese cosmetics still have the opportunity to play with these big corporations. Mr. Son made this comment based on Vietnam's extremely rich source of medicinal herbs and e-commerce platforms that are creating a fair playing field for sellers in reaching customers. In addition, generation Z is reshaping their shopping style on the internet. "With these factors, in the next few years, cosmetics made in Vietnam will have global coverage" - Mr. Son affirmed.

As a "bridge" business bringing Vietnamese brands to the world, Mr. Nguyen Khanh Trinh, Chairman of Clever Group, said that Kiwi Home is one of Vietnam's success stories when bringing products to Amazon. Accordingly, in the past, this unit mainly exported through import-export companies, meaning it had to go through 3-4 intermediary stages for the product to reach the shelves. However, with the support of Clever Group, after 2 years of bringing products to Amazon, Wiki Home's 2023 revenue has reached USD 1 million with advertising operating costs of just under 20%. Similarly, the TMA Medispores brand is a brand that sells probiotic functional foods that support digestion. This is a product that is the strength of domestic American brands, but after bringing the product to Amazon, TMA Medispores' revenue has continuously grown month by month and currently has more than 3,000 customers choosing the purchase feature every month.

According to Mr. Trinh, previously 80% of sellers on Amazon were from China. But after the US-China trade conflict broke out and taxes increased very high, Amazon lost a large number of sellers from China and turned to looking for sellers in Vietnam. Therefore, this is a huge opportunity for Vietnamese brands.

Branding expert Tran Tue Tri also pointed out many factors that bring opportunities for Vietnamese brands to reach the world, such as: rich national cultural heritage, large number of overseas Vietnamese, natural resources. Abundant domestic market, large international market, benefiting from the "China +1" international business strategy, easier market penetration thanks to the rapidly developing information technology platform and competitive advantages competitive prices and abundant human resources.

The secret to success

Sharing about Abera's success, Mr. Dong Thanh Son said that before conquering the world market, Abera built its brand in the domestic market, then entered the Southeast Asian market and gradually expanded to larger markets. Another experience shared by Mr. Son is flexible innovation to suit each market. From packaging, materials, language... everything must be changed to suit the tastes and culture of the local country.

Talking about this opinion, Mr. Nguyen Trung Dung, General Director of DH Foods, said that to export products to foreign markets, businesses must first do well in the domestic market. Specifically, after covering all supermarkets in Vietnam, DH Foods has just begun to consider exporting. DH Foods has chosen large markets such as Japan, Korea, America, Canada, Australia, and Europe - markets that favor high quality products, natural products and can accept a bit higher price.

Mr. Dung actively participates in international exhibitions and goes to supermarkets to research market trends, thereby building suitable products. DH Foods continuously launches new products, at one point there were nearly 200 products; although out of 10 products launched, only 3-4 products existed, there were domestic products that Chinese customers did not like it, some Chinese products don't like them but are welcomed by Europe... There are many products, customers will have more choices.

Mr. Dung also said that when going abroad, businesses will have to compete with very large competitors with very strict requirements. “Last year, after going to exhibitions in the US and Germany, I decided to put the factory in an industrial park. Even though it is a difficult time, DH Foods is still determined to achieve the highest certifications to enter supermarket systems abroad" - Mr. Dung said.

From his supporting experience for Vietnamese businesses on international e-commerce platforms, Mr. Trinh pointed out a number of barriers that cause Vietnamese sellers to fail on the path of cross-border e-commerce sales. That is not carefully researching the market and preparing products, not focusing on brand building, focusing too much on advertising and balancing cost structure. In addition, the fact that businesses do not take care of customers and build loyal customer files and the mentality of demanding quick results are also factors that lead to the failure of sellers.

Accordingly, Mr. Trinh recommended that businesses need to focus on building global brands, choosing products suitable for the target market and planning to synchronously deploy trade channels. Businesses also need to optimize products after customer feedback, change packaging to suit the target market, and research countries' storage, transportation, and tariff policies.