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Central Highlands overlooked market for Vietnamese goods
In the effort to regain the domestic market, Vietnamese producers have been bringing goods to many provinces and cities to sell. They’ve also realized that the Central Highlands is a potentially lucrative market that they have overlooked – until now.
According to Do Ha Nam, Chairman of Intimex, residents of the Central Highlands have a better living standard than in many lowland areas nationwide.
“The life of local residents has improved. At supermarkets in the Central Highlands, people’s consumption is in no way less than that of urban residents. Vietnamese-made goods are selling very well, especially on the weekends,” Nam noted.
Central Highlands’ market potential
Many businesses think that they would sell at a loss in the Central Highlands due to the weak market demand.
However, Nam claimed that businesses are too short-sighted and still cannot see the high demand.
“They (local residents) are demanding higher and higher quality products, as the number of high income earners has been increasing considerably,” Nam explained. “If businesses think that the Central Highlands is still poor and that the area only consumes low quality products, they will lose out on the market.”
Thai Hoa Group Chairman Nguyen Van An also detailed that they are carrying out a demand stimulation program in the Central Highlands to build up its coffee brand name.
He speculated that in recent years, farm produce has brought highlands’ residents a better life and increased their purchasing power significantly.
An related that one sees luxurious cars worth several billion dong in the highlands and therefore Vietnamese-produced products are not considered luxury products in the region.
The chairman noted that Vietnamese businesses have not been interested in the Central Highlands because they have been focused on selling in other areas that can bring higher profits.
Shedding preconceptions
Bui Hanh Thu, Deputy General Director of Saigon Co-op, a retailer with big market share in HCM City, said that the retailer has two supermarkets in the Central Highlands that have been making good profits, with the revenue of one billion dong per day. The turnover, according to Thu, is equal to the revenue of a middle-class in HCM City.
Thu argued that while the living standards of local residents have improved, there are not many trade centers.
Saigon Co-op has organized a series of program to bring Vietnamese-made goods to the Central Highlands with discounts of up to 50 percent for essential goods and organized tours to sell goods in remote areas.
“The results are very good. The high-priced products prices are still salable in the Central Highlands, if they have good quality,” Thu observed, adding that Saigon Co-op is going to open three supermarkets in the three remaining provinces of the Central Highlands.
Pham Hoang Ha, a senior executive of Phu Thai retail group, also believed that it is really a good idea to bring goods to sell in the Central Highlands.
“Previously, a product could be sold to 100 buyers if it was priced at 1,000 dong, but now, the product could be sold to 1,000 buyers as it is cheaper, at 800 dong. It is clear that businesses will gain larger profits if they can sell more products, even at lower prices,” Ha explained.
Ca Hao
vietnamnet
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