Exporting to the UK: Solving the branding problem to increase market share

There is still a lot of room for Vietnamese goods to increase exports to the UK market. However, Vietnamese businesses need to focus more on building their brand and reputation.

Sharing information at the seminar "Exporting to the UK market - Strategy and how to find information" held on October 30, Mr. Vu Viet Thanh - Department of European - American Markets (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said that after 3 years of implementing UKVFTA, the total two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and the UK has grown by an average of 8.9%/year. This is a much higher growth rate than the general growth rate of Vietnam's exports or the total two-way trade turnover of Vietnam to the EU or to Europe in general in the first 9 months of the year.

In particular, our country's exports to this potential market grew by an average of 9.4% per year. Thus, in the context of Vietnam's trade turnover with many key export markets declining due to geopolitical tensions and general difficulties of the global economy, two-way trade between Vietnam and the UK is a bright spot in our country's export picture.

With the UKVFTA tariff reduction roadmap, Vietnamese goods are gradually gaining a distinct advantage over similar products from other countries that do not have an FTA with the UK.

"It can be seen that Vietnam's exports to the UK benefit greatly from the UKVFTA agreement. Especially for key export items such as textiles, footwear, mechanical products, agricultural and aquatic products... The rate of utilizing preferential C/O according to the form of this agreement is currently over 30%, meaning steady growth over the years," Mr. Thanh emphasized.

Sharing more about this story, Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam - Deputy General Secretary, Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said that the advantage that UKVFTA brings to Vietnamese seafood is huge when many key products such as shrimp and pangasius... have import tax of 0%. Currently, shrimp accounts for 70% of the total export turnover of Vietnamese seafood to the UK, while pangasius accounts for 20%... Vietnamese seafood is ranked 5th in the UK.

In addition, according to data compiled from ITC's Trade Map, there are currently a number of important Vietnamese export products that are leading the UK market segment, such as pepper, shelled cashew nuts, footwear, coffee... Most recently, a number of Vietnamese agricultural products have been officially exported to the UK, such as oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, lychees, durian, dragon fruit...

Over the past 3 years, the total number of UK registered projects in Vietnam has increased by more than 1.5 times from 380 projects at the end of 2020 to 584 projects after the first 9 months of 2024 with a total capital of 4.5 billion USD. UK investment projects in Vietnam cover many important fields from processing and manufacturing industry, financial services, banking, renewable energy, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, etc.

Solving the branding problem to increase market share

Despite certain achievements, Vietnam's exports to the UK currently account for less than 1% of the total import volume of this market. According to economic experts, the main reason is that Vietnamese enterprises have not really focused on building their own brands and lack an effective strategy to approach the UK market.

Therefore, in the context of increasingly fierce global competition and to increase market share in the UK market, according to economic experts, Vietnamese enterprises need to have a methodical trade promotion strategy, take advantage of technology to optimize the production cycle, strictly control product quality and build market connections.

In addition, businesses need to carefully research the tastes and consumption trends in the market to invest in building brands, enhancing brand value, creating prestige and position in the market to increase export value and sustainable development.

In addition, sharing his opinion at the seminar, Mr. Nguyen Canh Cuong - former Counselor of the Embassy in the UK said that Vietnamese enterprises still have some limitations in systematically searching and analyzing information from foreign sources.

Furthermore, many businesses are still subjective and negligent in researching and verifying information about their trading partners. There have even been cases where businesses do not closely follow changes in their partners, and do not update their partners' financial health throughout many tasks. When they learn that their partners are about to go bankrupt, they are shocked, causing great financial losses.

"Businesses should not take lightly the matter of checking the financial status of customers and partners, including traditional customers and partners, to avoid putting themselves in risky situations and suffering great losses," Mr. Cuong advised.

According to Kate Tran/ VTV

Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/kinh-te/xuat-khau-sang-anh-giai-bai-toan-thuong-hieu-de-nang-cao-thi-phan/20241031040736424