Domestic firms prove competitive during Tet

Reasonable prices and improved designs and packaging saw food and fashion businesses make windfall revenues during Tet earlier this month, insiders have said.

Big fashion brands like An Phuoc, N&M, Foci, Vinatex Mart, and Mattana achieved a 50 percent rise in revenues, with some reporting increases of up to 300 percent.

Stocking in advance was a popular strategy to keep prices down, many of them said.

Accurate forecasts of market trends and a boost in consumption triggered by the “Vietnamese for Vietnamese Products” national campaign contributed to the success, according to Ngo Thi Bau, general director of Foci Limited Company.

Vietnamese consumers are getting increasingly sophisticated, she said, adding they tend to prefer high quality products.

Nguyen Duc Muoi, director of food company Vissan, said sales of products jumped 51 percent while revenues were up 16 percent.

Reasonable price will ensure clients coming back, he said.

Domestic confectionary producers managed to break into the high-end segment to add to their traditional dominance of the mid- and low-end ones, finally breaking down the prejudice against locally made products, Quynh Trang, external affairs director of French supermarket chain Big C, said.

Nguyen Xuan Luan, deputy CEO of Ho Chi Minh City-based confectionary company Kinh Do Group, said his firm achieved success in the high-end segment thanks to the expansion of its distribution network around the country.

Confectionery firms hiked prices by just 5-15 percent while globally prices had surged at the end of 2010.

But local companies still had to share the high-end market with foreign competitors, Phan Van Thien, deputy CEO of the Dong Nai Province-based Bibica Corporation, said.

Vietnamese products, despite being competitive in quality, continue to lack the brand appeal that makes buyers feel proud to give them as gifts to others, he admitted.

Confectionery firms should improve design, packaging, and taste to compete in this market segment, he said.

Tags: Vietnam companies, Vietnam enterprises