Vietnamese goods have been, are and will be under pressure from cheap imports, especially imports from cross-border e-commerce platforms.
Vietnamese goods under huge competitive pressure
An information was announced at the Gala 15 years of the Industry and Trade sector implementing the Campaign "Vietnamese people prioritize using" The program "Vietnamese goods" has recently "delighted" many people who love Vietnamese goods. That is, after 15 years of persistent implementation, now over 90% of Vietnamese consumers and businesses know about the Vietnamese Goods Identification Program with the names "Proud of Vietnamese goods", "Quintessence of Vietnamese goods"; over 90% of businesses know about the Movement "Vietnamese goods conquer Vietnamese people" and over 70% of businesses participate in this movement.
In addition, it currently accounts for over 85% of goods in modern distribution channels; revenue retail goods The domestic economic sector accounts for 85% of total domestic retail sales of goods.
With these figures, it is obvious that Vietnamese goods have been persistently on the journey to conquer consumers. In particular, they have conquered consumers by their quality and price, not simply by the movement or patriotism as in the early stages of the Campaign. The "fertile land" with more than 100 million people in the domestic market has been and is the "promised land" for Vietnamese goods to "sprout" and reap "sweet fruit".
A report from the General Statistics Office said that in the first 10 months of 2024, total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue increased by 8.5% over the same period in 2023. In particular, the online sales channel, although only holding 5% of the market share, is booming with a growth rate of 35-45%, opening up many opportunities for businesses.
However, on the journey of Vietnamese goods "reaching thousands of miles", many goods from other countries have also flooded into Vietnam. Most recently, the entry of cross-border platforms such as Temu and Shein into the Vietnamese market and some moves from other cross-border e-commerce platforms such as 1688, Taobao have increased competitive pressure, when previously the market was dominated by foreign platforms such as: Shopee, TikTok Shop, Lazada, Tiki and Sendo. Super cheap prices, fast delivery times, the strong development of e-commerce systems, logistics, and foreign goods flooding into the country have caused domestic retail businesses to face challenges in terms of price and service speed.
At the workshop “Supporting Vietnamese products on e-commerce platforms” organized by Tuoi Tre Newspaper on the afternoon of November 20, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung - Director of Logistics Technology Solutions Company Limited (LTS), said that a Chinese product on an e-commerce platform is worth only a few tens of thousands of VND, but that does not mean that it includes the entire shipping fee. Sometimes the manufacturer is the one who pays that amount to the shipping unit. This makes the product price low.
In addition, when imported into Vietnam, the product is considered personal goods, not necessarily commercial goods, leading to many difficulties in applying import tax. When the tax is low, the product will also have a very competitive price.
Not to mention, for many years now, China has built large warehouses near the border, helping to deliver products to consumers very quickly. Therefore, even if consumers order on cross-border platforms, the shipping time to Vietnam is sometimes faster than domestic products delivered to consumers. The formula of “cheap price + short shipping time” is the formula that helps goods from these cross-border platforms “win” over Vietnamese goods.
Are Vietnamese goods inferior?
Even so, Vietnamese goods are not completely inferior. Ms. Diep Le - a famous KOL (social media influencer) in Vietnam and internationally with livestream sessions that bring in millions of dollars in revenue, shared that the most difficult problem to solve with international orders today is how to control quality. Meanwhile, the strength of Vietnamese goods is being able to control the quality of orders.
In addition, Vietnamese businesses do not have language barriers, so the customer care team will operate more smoothly through their after-sales campaigns. Vietnamese businesses will also understand Vietnamese consumers better to be able to complete orders with a full experience from livestreaming during sales until consumers hold the item in their hands.
Not to mention, Vietnam currently has a wide and diverse product range with many typical products, of which OCOP products are typical. OCOP products are all quality products and have regional characteristics. Many products have meaningful stories behind them. The fact that OCOP classifies products according to 3-star, 4-star, and 5-star standards clearly helps Vietnamese brands have a focus, creating momentum to compete on e-commerce platforms and international markets.
Regarding logistics, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung said that Vietnam, especially Ho Chi Minh City, has great potential to become a regional logistics center. According to the current plan, Ho Chi Minh City is expected to build 8 logistics hubs. We can learn from e-commerce platforms, which always build modern logistics centers to separate and distribute goods, and also how to make logistics faster and cheaper.
Also to solve the "problem" of logistics, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is quickly developing a Draft Strategy for the development of Vietnam's logistics services for the period 2025 - 2035, with a vision to 2045 (Draft Strategy) to develop a synchronous, comprehensive logistics service industry commensurate with Vietnam's economic development potential in the coming period.
The Draft Strategy sets out specific tasks and solutions. Accordingly, it is necessary to create a breakthrough in building legal institutions, improving the investment and business environment, encouraging economic sectors to participate in developing logistics services; promoting investment in building and developing a synchronous and modern logistics infrastructure system; developing the logistics market, promoting regional and international linkages, etc.
The draft strategy is expected to “give a new look” to Vietnam’s logistics services in a more robust direction. And when this important document is issued, Vietnamese goods can be expected to “take flight” and increase their competitiveness against the e-commerce “giants”.
Source
Comment (0)