Home appliance market restructured after WonderBuy case
Suppliers have become more cautious when doing business with retailers after WonderBuy has filed for bankruptcy. Meanwhile, analysts have every reason to believe that after WonderBuy, some more names would also disappear from the market.
Manufacturers and suppliers are now following the principle of “holding the handle of a knife” in making transactions with retailers, especially small or new retailers, after WonderBuy filed for bankruptcy on June 10.
Saigon Tiep Thi has quoted its sources as saying that “suppliers now require retailers to pay money first and then get deliveries, or they only deliver products to retailers with the guarantee of banks.”
A supplier who asked to be anonymous, said that in fact, the policy has been applied for a long time, but he needs to tighten the distribution more strictly after the WonderBuy’s case.
“I would rather not to sell products than seeing retailers repudiating their debts,” said Nguyen Quoc Bao, Director of Thanh Cong Mobile.
Vo Ngoc Tai, Director of Tam Nhin So, the distributor of audio digital products, said that the company applies different policies to different clients.
“We do not set up requirements on payment deadline on some loyal clients, even though they are small retailers,” he said. “Meanwhile, we would ask others to pay money before getting deliveries, even though they are big distribution chains”.
“The big clients, though having big working capital of hundreds of billions dong, are usually late in making payment,” he added. “I would rather not to sell products than accepting high risks, because retailers may refuse to pay their debts”.
Doan Hong Viet, Chair of DigiWorld, a distribution company, also said that it is now necessary to tighten the financial policies applied to retailers in order to “play safe”. He revealed that big retail chains are not always credible.
Meanwhile, retailers have confirmed that distributors have been applying tightened policies, which have put big difficulties for them, especially when it is now the low sale season.
A distributor has revealed that 35 percent of the clients, who buy wholesale from the company fore retailing have sent emails, informing that they have to shut down business temporarily for a certain period, because they do not have products to sell and do not have clients.
Tai from Tam Nhin So has admitted that the policy on tightening the payment method and the low demand on the market both have made the sales of Tam Nhin So, a decrease by 30 percent in comparison with the same period of the last year.
Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon has quoted its source as saying that the home appliance market would see some more retailers disappear from the market.
The source said that home appliance centers are experiencing the most ever difficult time, when the demand has decreased by 60 percent. In general, 30 percent of products are sold to projects, while 70 percent to individual clients. Meanwhile, in the context of the high inflation, both the subjects of clients have fasten their belt and cut down expenses on home appliances.
Importers and suppliers previously thought that Vietnamese consumers would still spend money on new products despite the economic difficulties – the thing that once occurred in 2008. Besides, the prediction that the earth is growing warmer made them believe that the demand would be increasing. Therefore, they tried to import refrigerators and air conditioners.
However, in fact, it is not too hot, while the economic difficulties are really serious.
The source has also predicted that in the current circumstances, small shops and companies would be the biggest sufferers. Since the small companies have small turnover, they do not have close relations with trade companies and cannot get support from the companies with sale promotion programs.
“The programs would prioritize the sales agents with big turnover,” he explained.
Bui Tan Cuong, a senior executive of Thien Hoa Home Appliance Center also said that small shops and the retailers with bad services would be eliminated from the market. – Vietnamnet
Tags: Home appliance market, WonderBuy