Vietnam to ‘play big’ with support from Amazon
The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) has said that the presence of Amazon in Vietnam will give opportunities to Vietnam’s businesses to reach the world market, but businesspeople are not so optimistic.
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Amazon has promised to support businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, access the world market and develop their brands on Amazon.com. It has also pledged to run training programs to help businesses improve their skills of selling goods on the giant’s ecosystem.
Vu Ba Phu, head of the Trade Promotion Agency, believes that the cooperation program is an important step which can help businesses approach 300 million customers on Amazon.
Vietnam’s businesses were selling goods via Amazon before the cooperation program was launched.
Betrimex’s coconut milk is officially available on Amazon. The products are sold at $1.7, or VND40,000 for a 330 ml can. The producer estimated that the value of coconut milk has increased by 300 times thanks to the exports.
Some other Vietnamese products such as balm and broom are also available on Amazon and Ebay with prices 10 times higher than domestic prices.
A report from the E-commerce & Digital Economy Department showed the rapid growth in e-commerce in Vietnam, about 20 percent per annum.
Amazon has realized the great potential from the growth. Amazon in September 2018 sent its staff to Vietnam to discuss how to bring Vietnam’s goods to the world.
According to MOIT, only about 200 Vietnam’s businesses are selling products on Amazon, a modest figure if noting that Vietnam has a wide range of advantageous products, including farm produce, food and wooden furniture.
Asked about business prospects in the future with the support of Amazon, Vietnamese businesspeople gave cautious answers.
Nguyen Thanh Tong from An Thai Son Company, which has been selling portable self rocketing automatic hammocks on Amazon for years, admitted that the sales on Amazon were a very small proportion of the company’s revenue. About 100 products can be sold each month and the buyers are mostly overseas Vietnamese.
Dien Dan Doanh Nghiep quoted a businessman as saying that it would be difficult to sell popular products, such as coffee, on Amazon, if the products are not special. In general, Amazon likes to choose original products from every country.
The businessman warned that products must meet the requirements on quality, food safety and origin in accordance with US standards to be displayed on Amazon. At present, only several Vietnamese companies can satisfy the requirements.
