“If Vietnamese business people believe in their products so will consumers”
Tran Thanh Sang, managing director of Viet Fashion Company:
Do you, as a consumer, use Vietnamese goods in your daily life?
I don’t care if the shirt I wear has foreign brand name or it is made domestically. The only thing I care is that if it fits me and suits my taste. However, today I am wearing made in Vietnam clothes and I also wear the clothes made by our company when I appear at important events and I feel comfortable and self-confident. My clothes are mostly made in Vietnam, and I only buy foreign made clothes when I cannot find suitable Vietnamese made ones.
What do you think Vietnam needs to do to encourage consumers to buy Vietnamese goods?
Patriotism is a part of every Vietnamese person. However, businesses should ask themselves what are they doing to persuade consumers their products are worth using. Consumers nowadays are very smart and they will not spend much on low quality products. Products have to offer value for money.
Do you think it’s illogical if two shirts of the same quality and similar design are selling at quite different price levels just because one of them is a foreign, while the other is made in Vietnam?
No, I don’t. Consumers purchase the expensive internationally-made shirt because they are choosing the more well known brand name. A Nike pair of shoes made in Vietnam costs a little over USD 10, but they are selling at over USD 100 in the US and when they return to Vietnam. That is down to the fame of Nike. The brand name is expensive because its owners have invested many years working hard to promte it.
Do you think that Vietnamese businesses can have ever have such strong brand names?
A foreign friend of mine told me that Vietnam is unlikely to have companies with international stature. He has believes that in Vietnam, good experts do not share their skills or work for the same company. Instead they all want to set up a business of their own. A company that wants to compete internationally needs many good staff.
The media has recently reported cases of businesses importing low-quality products to sell domestically. Is this a moral issue?
Business people should imagine they are providing products for their own families’ use and therefore they need to provide the best products they can.
My family and friends are using products made by my own company and I hear a lot of feedback from them. We have recognised that we still cannot always control quality absolutely.
Bui Dinh Thang, deputy general director of Nhon Hoa Trade and Production Company:
What do you think Vietnamese businesses need to do to build up consumers confidence in Vietnamese goods?
Bui Dinh Thang: In order to persuade consumers to purchase Vietnamese goods instead of foreign goods, businesses have to offer good products, reasonable prices and have to protect their image. Businesses need to listen to consumers so they can meet their demands.
After the campaign on buying Vietnamese goods was launched, we have taken goods to rural areas to sell. We are aware, however, that rural residents often do not have as much money, therefore, we set the prices at 3-7 percent lower than in cities.
High flyers often think that only using well known foreign brand names properly befits their stature. How can we change this attitude?
Vietnamese business people have a social responsibility. It should never be the case that a business person who produces fish sauce, does not use it himself and instead buys imported sauce. Only when businessmen believe in their own products will they be able to persuade customers to believe in them too.
There are many good made-in-Vietnam products with reasonable prices and there are no good reasons not to use them. I wear Biti’s sandals, Asia sports shoes, I purchase food at Co-op Mart and wear Dong Xuan T-shirts.
