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Stylish foreign housewares trounce Vietnam-made goods in upscale market
While Vietnamese consumers of the new generation have a well-developed sense of style, producers say the consumers are not smart enough to realise that the quality of the lower-priced, less-diverse Vietnam-made housewares is typically better than foreign goods.
Made-in-Vietnam products good, but unappealing
A big retailer, Nguyen Thi Anh Hong, the owner of Maximark judged that Vietnam-made housewares have one outstanding advantage: high quality. They have disadvantages too: there is little diversity in design, and some high-grade Vietnam-made products are more expensive than imports.
“Meanwhile, the Japanese and Thai-made products that are being imported to the market in large quantities are diversified in design, materials and colours,” Hong noted. “If they can’t meet the ‘design challenge,’ domestically made products will fail in the competition with imports.”
Though they acknowledge the quality of Vietnam-made housewares, consumers are still rejecting them because they cannot choose the products suitable to their taste.
Tran Thi Anh Thu, born in 1978, who has just purchased a modern apartment, explained thus: “When I lived with my parents, I always used made-in-Vietnam products, from buckets and shopping bags to boxes to keep food and dustbins. However, now I have a new home, a modern apartment. Here I don’t need basins to put clothes for washing and I don’t need aluminium water pots. However, I cannot find many made-in-Vietnam products stylish enough to be used in my modern kitchen,” Thu said.
There are some, Thu added, namely Minh Long or Hai Duong brand bowls and plates, chopsticks, spoons and chopping boards. However, Thu does not want to use Vietnam-made pots and pans, because she has more choices with import products. The imports have designs which fit a luxury kitchen. “And then there are the glasses,” she continued. “The imported ones are not only pretty, but there are lots of different kinds – glasses for drinking fruit juice in the summer, glasses for drinking a fruit shake, glasses for ‘che’ dessert, for ice cream, for drinking beer or wine.”
Foreign household goods makers seem to understand the needs of consumers in urban areas nowadays, especially young customers, better than Vietnamese producers. The foreign companies pay a lot of attention to details.
Domestic producers haven’t understood that more and more people now own modern kitchens with a lot of comforts. In their modern kitchens, housewives want products that match with other things in the kitchen and show the taste of the owners.
Thu gave an example. For keeping spices, she said, made-in-Vietnam plastic jars are durable but not beautiful. Instead, she chose a set of translucent colored glass jars for keeping her spices.
The changing concept of ‘saving money’
Vietnamese consumers have also changed their attitudes toward economising. Durability is important, and they are willing to pay 10 to 20 percent more for imported dustbins with a lid, which can be used for several years, instead of cheaper but shorter lived made-in-Vietnam products. They would rather purchase an imported plastic tea tray, 30 percent more expensive than domestically made products that can easily become tea-stained.
What Vietnamese Manufacturers Say
Nguyen Thi Hai, owner of Hatech, a household products company:
Vietnamese-made plastic products are just right for families in rural areas or labourers with low income. Domestic household electric products cannot compete with imports. Thai glassware dominates our market, while China controls the low end of the cookware market and Taiwan, South Korea and Europe supply the high-end goods.
Tran Duy Hy, General Director of Duy Tan Plastics Company:
Duy Tan still emphasises making and selling popular products in large quantities at reasonable prices. We aim to make them affordable to the majority of consumers. Duy Tan absolutely can produce higher grade plastic products. However, made-in-Vietnam items cannot be sold at high prices, even if they have better characteristics and higher quality than imported products.
Trinh Chi Cuong, General Director of Dai Dong Tien Plastic Company:
Our ‘Sina’ brand plastic refrigerator storage boxes are better than the South Korea made box, because Dai Dong Tien’s products are made with nano technology. However, as we sell them at low prices and in large quantities (we do not have to pay a lot for advertisements), this makes people think – mistakenly -- that they are ‘normal’ products without any special characteristics.
vietnamnet, sgtt
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