Wooden furniture and handicraft businesses open "emergency exits" via e-commerce channels

	Timber businesses overcome difficulties during the pandemic season
	Increasing wood exports to Canada, opportunities to expand the North American market
	Stop the decline of wooden furniture exports

Products of wooden furniture are widely introduced on e-commerce platforms.

“Survive” thanks to orders from e-commerce

Despite the chaos of the wood and handicraft industry, in the past month, Gia Nhien Co., Ltd. - an enterprise specializing in manufacturing sailboat models, still received up to 85 requests for quotes through the ecommerce channel. According to Mr. Tran Hoai Huu, Director of Gia Nhien Company, after 19 years of business on e-commerce platforms, the company has achieved many impressive results. Specifically, in the first years of participation, export revenue reached about 800,000 USD, by 2017-2018 it increased to 1.2 million USD and remained at 70% compared to the previous epidemic 3-year period 2020-2022. At present, the situation has begun to show signs of recovery with new orders being recorded. With the support of e-commerce, Gia Nhien has exported stably to markets in Europe, America, Japan, Hong Kong...

Similarly, Nguyen Phong Metal Joint Stock Company - an enterprise specializing in designing, manufacturing and exporting artistic iron products, has also operated 4 years in the e-commerce environment. Ms. Nguyen Pham Le Uyen, Sales Director of Nguyen Phong Metal Joint Stock Company, said that the company set the first foot in the market in 2012. However, due to severe competition in domestic market with high value products such as iron art products, by 2020, the company sought to enter foreign markets and e-commerce has proven to be outstandingly effective for this direction of the company. Accordingly, right in 2020, Nguyen Phong Metal signed the first order worth up to 45,000 USD with a customer in Canada, thanks to which the company has "survived" during 2 years of the Covid-19 pandemic. Up to now, Nguyen Phong Metal's market has been expanded to many countries such as the US, Australia, Italy, Spain, France...

Ms. Le Uyen shared that the company is currently fulfilling an order for a customer in the US worth up to 100,000 USD. In particular, the company has just signed a contract to renovate a 300-year-old castle in Europe with gates, doors, windows, decorative frames...

According to Ms. Uyen, e-commerce is a very effective channel to push businesses into global market. “Doing business via global e-commerce has almost no days off or breaks, which enhances more chance to receive orders " - Ms. Le Uyen shared. In the past month, Nguyen Phong Metal received 44 quotation requests, achieving a growth rate of 13.9%. In the coming time, this company plans to develop new products, because according to Ms. Uyen, once reputation has been built, customers are willing to buy more and the company wants to take advantage of this opportunity to expand revenue.

Opportunities available for Vietnamese businesses thanks to new trends

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Uyen, Marketing Director of Alibaba.com shared some main trends of the global furniture and furniture market. Firstly, interior products for hair, nail, massage, restaurants, bars, hotels are promised to deploy high demands; trends in new production materials and trends in multi-functional or multi-application products. Accordingly, markets such as Brazil, Colombia, Philippines, Saudi Arabia... have high demand for items such as shampoo chairs, shampoo beds, customer sofas, outdoor furniture... According to Alibaba data, shampoo chairs increased by 54% compared to last year, hotel sofas increased by 46%, outdoor furniture increased by 40%...

As for new materials, current trends are inclined to velvet, sheepskin, and some special technology fabrics with detailed quality requirements such as natural materials, good for health and high-tech applications. For multi-functional products, the current market trend is towards smart assembled furniture items, beds with massage functions, beds and wardrobes...

In response to market trends, Alibaba has created separate product areas by function to meet the needs of shoppers. Ms. Phuong Uyen also said that with a transaction turnover of up to 684 billion USD in the global wood and furniture market in 2022, Vietnamese enterprises will only achieve 2.3% market share, which shows that Vietnamese furniture still bears great potential in the world market.

“Vietnamese products own dominant advantages in quality, cheap labor costs alongside with high demands. In September, a dedicated area for Vietnamese businesses will be opened on Alibaba's furniture industry homepage so that all international buyers looking for wooden and interior products will quickly access with Vietnamese products" - said Ms. Phuong Uyen.

Mr. Mika Zhang, Country Director of Alibaba Vietnam, said that after many months of declining consumption, since May 2023, the global market has witnessed an impressive recovery, especially in the US market. Currently, international buyers are looking for potential suppliers. Therefore, this is a golden time for Vietnamese businesses to focus on exports to seize development opportunities.