Success lessons from mouse clicks
After only one year of selling on the Amazon e-commerce platform targeting European and American markets, ChicnChill - a Vietnamese brand of woven handicraft products has achieved a growth rate of up to 700%.
Tran Tuan Dung, the owner of ChicnChill, shared that he saw the idea of starting a business when most Vietnamese businesses had to "shrink" due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr. Dung and his team spent months researching lifestyle websites in the European and American markets, researching and analyzing home decoration trends with natural materials, thereby determining the first main product line, combining Vietnamese identity to enter the market.
After only about a year on the market, Vietnamese grass, rattan and bamboo through ChicnChill decorative handmade products have been welcomed and loved on Amazon. “Our goal is to achieve a growth rate of 200 - 300%/year,” said Mr. Dung.
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| Vietnamese rattan handicraft products are well received and loved on Amazon. |
AnEco - a brand with completely biodegradable and environmentally friendly plastic products (bags, knives, forks, straws, food wraps...) also achieved great success in 2022 thanks to cross-border sales via e-commerce platforms.
In less than a year since its listing, AnEco has had tens of thousands of customers buying and using its products. Sales in 2022 increased 20 times compared to 2021.
Also from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic with the challenge of survival, Sunhouse - a Vietnamese brand in the household appliances and kitchen equipment industry - has chosen to "weather the storm" with cross-border e-commerce.
This is considered a "risky" move by this business because although quite familiar in the Vietnamese market, Sunhouse is still too new in the world and has chosen a strong industry in many developed countries.
However, although it has only been on the world market since the beginning of 2022, Sunhouse's growth rate has exceeded expectations. In the North American market alone, sales increased by an average of 160 - 200% per month.
Another Vietnamese brand that has also achieved success in cross-border e-commerce exports is LAFOOCO in the field of cashew production and trading.
After only two weeks of being sold on Amazon, three out of four types of cashew nuts from Vietnamese businesses have entered the top 10 best-selling new cashew products on this platform.
Two product lines of caramel-flavored sea salt roasted cashews and coconut-flavored sea salt roasted cashews are in the top 100 cashew products at Amazon in the US.
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| LAFOOCO successfully exported cashew products via Amazon |
Few people think that large, bulky, and difficult-to-transport bed frames can be exported to the US market through cross-border e-commerce channels. But that is the true story of a business in Binh Duong.
The products of this company's wooden furniture business have been sold to international markets for many years. However, in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, due to social distancing, foreign partners could not come to Vietnam to see the goods, the business could not export goods in the traditional way, so it considered opening a new sales channel on the Amazon e-commerce platform. At that time, cross-border e-commerce became a lifeline to help many businesses escape the situation of too much inventory.
Although having quite a bit of experience in traditional export business, with cross-border e-commerce channels, it is not easy to "win right away".
After about a year of struggling through the sea of information on the Internet, not knowing which direction to take, the business sought advice from a consultant.
With expert advice, the company has researched how to pack bed frames into neat boxes for easy transportation.
Above all, by learning from experience, businesses gradually optimize customer experience: Add more weight notes for users; give away additional tool kits for customers to disassemble and assemble the product at home; add more disassembly and assembly instructions; Pack products more neatly and securely to minimize errors during transportation...
After 3 years of doing business on Amazon, the business in Binh Duong has reaped the rewards: Revenue increased from 2 million USD in 2020 to 8 million USD in 2021 and 15 million USD in 2022 (not to mention 5 million USD from other channels); became a favorite brand selling bed frames on Amazon, starting to establish its brand position in the US market.
Golden period to take off online export
According to many experts, international e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba or Amazon are opportunities for startups, small businesses, and new businesses to easily find new markets, minimize costs to reach the world instead of having to go through intermediaries and suffer many losses.
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| Amazon is the bridge to bring Vietnamese businesses' products to the world. |
Online exporting helps businesses save a lot of costs in building distribution networks and introducing products because all negotiations and transactions are done online.
“If a business studies a market on its own, it will take several years. However, if it joins hands with reputable cross-border e-commerce platforms, the path to international expansion will be significantly shortened,” said Mr. Le Tung, Marketing Director of Sunhouse Group.
However, according to some entrepreneurs who have successfully exported through major e-commerce platforms, exporting through customers' mouse clicks also requires a lot of investment: From infrastructure, digital technology in a systematic way to be able to synchronize and connect with foreign platforms.
In addition, businesses must constantly innovate, from product form, marketing methods to competitive pricing policies. Not to mention promptly grasping the world's consumption trends and the characteristics of each individual market.
Having supported many Chinese businesses in bringing goods to the US, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Training Director of Anneco Group, is always concerned about how to support the export of Vietnamese goods to the land of the free. According to Mr. Tuan, exporting Vietnamese goods through cross-border e-commerce platforms is not easy. There are many barriers that businesses have to face. For example, paperwork and procedures in international import and export.
When exporting goods to the US, Europe, Japan, etc., very demanding markets, businesses will be required to meet many types of documents. Not all Vietnamese businesses have those types of documents available. Or there are barriers in human and financial resources.
“Many businesses cannot find personnel specializing in exporting through e-commerce channels; they have not found a source of money to invest in this new business channel,” said Mr. Tuan.
Some mistakes that led to failure were shared by Mr. Tuan from his own lessons: “Not researching the market carefully was a painful experience for me. Seeing a beautiful model boat, I was confident that this product could sell well on the e-commerce platform. Seeing a beautiful wooden hanger, I thought that combining this hanger with the boat would be great. But in reality, people who like to buy boats do not like to buy the base and those who buy the base do not want to buy the boat. So I failed. My own experience is that the product you like may not be liked by everyone else; do not skip the step of researching the market you intend to sell to.”
Although it is difficult, Mr. Tuan still recommends that Vietnamese businesses should approach e-commerce channels to bring Vietnamese products to the world.
As a bridge to bring Vietnamese businesses' products to the world, Ms. Pham Ngoc Anh, Senior Account Manager of Amazon Global Selling Vietnam, noted the importance of building and protecting brands in cross-border e-commerce.
According to Amazon's survey, 59% of buyers choose familiar brands when looking to buy new products; 80% of buyers discover new brands on e-commerce platforms; The growth rate of branded sellers is 1.5 times higher than that of non-branded sellers.
Ms. Ngoc Anh recommends some things to do to build an international brand: Register a trademark in the country where you plan to sell; Apply for patents on design and technology; ensure product quality and pricing strategy are consistent with the brand image; advertise both direct and indirect channels through many forms...
Among the things to avoid, the first thing to avoid is using inventory for testing in the process of building a brand overseas. Next is selling hot domestic products without editing in the international market; using sensitive words as brand names...
According to Amazon Global Selling's 2022 performance report, nearly 10 million products from Vietnamese sellers were sold to Amazon customers globally.
Mr. Gijae Seong - CEO of Amazon Global Selling Vietnam - commented: "With available advantages such as strong national policies supporting exports, abundant production capacity, and rapidly developing e-commerce, Vietnam is in the golden stage to take off online exports."
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