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Many Vietnamese businesses have affirmed their export product brands in international markets. Source: Internet.

Vietnam's own brand is still very modest

Ms. Trinh Huyen Mai, Deputy Head of the Trade Promotion Policy Department, Department of Trade Promotion (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said that currently, our country's export enterprises are mainly small and medium-sized enterprises. Form of export through the export processing supply chain or export in the form of raw materials, raw materials as inputs for manufacturers and processors abroad to purchase, reprocess, package, and export by their brand. Therefore, Vietnam's added value as well as its own brand is still very modest.

Ms. Trinh Huyen Mai gave an example, in the industrial sector, about 95% of export value is in the hands of FDI international corporations with their own global brands. The value chain of textiles, garments, and footwear is similar, the main form of export is processing, with very little added value, the rate of export through intermediaries is very high, and very few businesses can export using their own brand. In the auto industry, the Vinfast brand has emerged and can bring the Vietnamese auto brand to the global playground.

From the perspective of the agricultural industry, clear export brands have been recorded, such as Vinasamex, Trung Nguyen coffee, Vinamilk, and Queen dragon fruit, and recently there are some typical examples such as Loc Troi Group has brought the rice product "Vietnam Rice" to French distribution systems and conquered the very difficult European market. Tan Long Group with the An An brand ST 25 rice product or Massan Group has also built the Chinsu brand for a series of spices in the Japanese market...

To determine the path to building a brand for the world, Ms. Tran Thu Quynh, Commercial Counselor, Vietnam Trade Office in Canada, said that there will be no common solution and the same path in building a private brand. Vietnamese food processing enterprises should produce under their own brands. However, outsourcing or manufacturing according to the brands of supermarket chains and the world's major importers and distributors is also a way for businesses to reach the market in a sustainable way and have stable orders.

Besides, there are industries that are required to develop their own brands. For example, if you want to export construction services, franchise services, telecommunications services, or information technology services, you must have a brand, and FPT Group has been very successful in doing so. Develop your service brand in Canada.

“Or for the garment industry, shoes, handbags... are fields and industries that businesses should have been very bold to invest in developing their own brands a long time ago. Once we have mastered sewing technology and grasped the source of raw materials, we should not think about outsourcing anymore. For example, for the leather and footwear industry, why don't we think about other segments such as specialty shoes, fashion shoes, children's shoes, or indoor shoes... Similarly, for the textile industry, there is absolutely You can develop your own clothing brands such as children's clothing, beachwear, workwear or sleepwear...", Ms. Tran Thu Quynh analyzed.

Recently, at the Toronto Textile and Garment Fair, the Vietnam Trade Office in Canada supported a small-scale Vietnamese textile and garment enterprise that invested in a textile and dyeing factory with the orientation of having autonomy in raw materials and self-development of private trademarks and self-distribution abroad. Currently, after success in Canada, this business has promoted finding a location to prepare to deploy a wholesale warehouse and conduct self-distribution right in Canada.

Test market for businesses to develop their brands

Although there are businesses that "move on their own", according to Ms. Tran Thu Quynh, in the story of developing their own brands, businesses should work together and especially with their industry associations to work together. Build a market development strategy in stages. Thailand and China are very successful countries in cooperation and support to promote each other's products abroad. Going together also means synchronization between production standards, information connection to networks of import partners, and suppliers, coordination in logistics and warehouse stages... and higher levels. Another is the ability to develop an entire ecosystem for the industry to be able to develop its own brand.

Sharing about brand development in the Canadian market, Ms. Tran Thu Quynh said that there are many favorable factors for Vietnamese businesses that want to develop their own brands in this market. “Canada is an open economy and has an open immigration policy and with a very diverse ethnic structure. If businesses can export to this area, it means they can export to anywhere in the world. Selling into Canada means that businesses can go to all other high-standard and demanding markets. This is like a test market for all products that Vietnamese businesses want to develop their own brands. Furthermore, Canada is currently the country with the most positive economic index in the G7 bloc, so it is still a country with very high consumption and import growth rates," the representative of the Trade Office in Canada informed. believe. An advantage between the two economies is that both Vietnam and Canada are members of many free trade agreements, such as CPTPP, and both have FTAs with the European Union or with the United Kingdom, Japan, and Korea.

However, opportunities also come with challenges. The big challenge for businesses that want to develop their own brands when exporting to that area is that Canada is a country with an open economy and they also promote networks. The free trade agreement is very broad and in particular, they have a policy towards South America and towards allied countries. Many competitors in fields such as textiles, garments, and footwear... continue to enjoy universal tariff preferences such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Cambodia, Egypt, and El Salvador... These are huge challenges for Vietnam's exports in general and for the development of private brands of Vietnamese enterprises in the area in particular.