Vietnamese goods in retail systems and distribution channels are gradually taking up a high proportion. In order to raise the value of Vietnamese goods, especially consumer products and those processed from agricultural products, businesses and production units need to actively connect, seek opportunities to expand markets and promote non-products only for domestic consumption but also taking a berth in the international market.

Businesses need to actively connect with distributors, look for opportunities to expand consumption markets and promote the value of their goods. People are seen shopping at the Go! Da Nang supermarket. Photo: VAN HOANG

Expanding opportunities into distribution systems

As unveiled by Ms. Vo Thi Thu Thuy, the Director of GO! Da Nang, her business always prioritise and accompany manufacturers and suppliers in Da Nang, and the central region as a whole to bring goods, to the supermarket system. Although the proportion of Vietnamese products in supermarkets accounts for a high proportion, there are a few sorts of products in the city, and the central region at large, on shelves.

The reason is that enterprises and production units do not really want to supply goods to the supermarket and do not fully meet the requirements for papers and documents according to the State's regulations when bringing goods to the supermarket.

On the other hand, businesses often make mistakes in product packaging and labelling. This is the reason why 90% of the businesses, despite having quality products, still cannot promote goods in distribution channels and retail systems.

“We have arranged a priority area to display and promote OCOP (One Commune – One Product) items and high-quality Vietnamese goods to domestic and international tourists. Over the past 2 years, we have made great efforts to support OCOP entities in Da Nang to bring goods into our trade system, but so far, the number of products for sale is very limited. Recently, the baked coconut cake product developed by the My Phuong Food Co., Ltd. of Da Nang has been put on the shelves for sale”, said Ms. Thuy.

Meanwhile, Mr. Paul Le, Vice President of Central Retail Group in Viet Nam, in charge of trade promotion, said that distribution channels not only bring quality products of the world to Viet Nam but also vice versa.

The unit will actively support farmers in the Central - Central Highlands regions, and Viet Nam in general, to promote the sale of their products to the world. He highly appreciated typical commercial products, especially OCOP products of the region, because these are traditional, historical and inherited products.

However, Mr. Paul Le pointed out to the weakness of these products as they do not tell the typical story of the product whereas the traditional culture and history of the locality are also factors that make consumers, especially tourists, happy when choosing products.

"Besides the factors of packaging, labels, good products and the quality of businesses, OCOP subjects need to convey the story and journey to win the trust consumers", said, Mr. Paul Le.

Fairs and trade promotion programmes create opportunities for businesses to coordinate production and trade. The Director of Trade Promotion Department Vu Ba Phu (2nd from the right) visits the Quang Nam product fair that has just taken place in Da Nang. Photo: V.H

Businesses need to actively join the connection network

According to a recent survey conducted by the Viet Nam Confederation of Trade and Industry (VCCI), the three biggest difficulties faced by enterprises are production inputs, rising raw material prices; difficulties in raising capital; and especially the shortage of orders and output markets. Therefore, the connection plays an extremely important role to solve these problems to help businesses raise  the volume of orders and seek more consumption markets.

As an enterprise whose goods are consumed throughout 63 provinces and cities across the country and exported to five countries, My Phuong Food Co., Ltd located in Hoa Son Commune, Hoa Vang District highly appreciates the connection programmes launched by the competent authorities are great opportunities to find new consumption markets for its products. Accordingly, the connection of trade through local trade promotion programmes is an effective marketing channel with almost equal costs, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in the process of approaching more potential customers.

Ms. Mai Thi Y Nhi, the Director of the company, acknowledged that, the big problems that small and medium-sized enterprises have to face in business is that they have not yet positioned their brands; the expenses for marketing activities, product promotion; the slow development of new products. This is the reason why it is difficult to access customer sources, look for consumption markets for products, as well as approach new distributors. Therefore, supportive trade connection programmes are effective solutions for businesses.

In addition to supporting trade promotion through programmes, fairs, relevant agencies should offer training courses for suppliers, thereby offering them useful pieces of advice and supportive tools on labelling and branding issues.

On the other hand, businesses need to make good use of supportive policies and preferential capital from the State budget to promote multi-channel sales.

At the same time, it is necessary to actively learn about demand and consumption trends, even ‘the taste’ of other localities for the sake of more effective development and connection.

“The domestic market is still a bright spot with total retail sales of consumer goods and services in the first four months of 2023 growing 12.8%. For the Central - Central Highlands regions with Da Nang growing up by 13.5%, Khanh Hoa Province with more than 8%. In the past time, trade promotion channel has been an effective tool for implementing targets for the domestic market. With OCOP products, the strength of enterprises in the Central - Central Highlands regions, many programmes are carried out such as fairs, communication branding programmes, creating opportunities for production establishments and distributors to uphold their connections and cooperation, said Ms. Le Viet Nga, Deputy Director of the Domestic Market Department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade, at the conference on trade connection between suppliers in the Central - Central Highlands regions with trade promotion organisations in Da Nang on May 11.

Reporting by VAN HOANG – Translating by A.THU