The “Vietnamese using Vietnamese products” campaign has offered a golden opportunity for domestic businesses to raise their prestige, said Ho Thi Thoa, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade (MoIT), at a recent meeting to review the campaign.
A golden chance for Vietnamese products
According to Truong Quang Hoai Nam, Director General of the MoIT Domestic Market Management Department, the campaign has recorded many positive outcomes in the first six months of this year.
The campaign has made it easier for domestic producers and Vietnamese businesses to operate and develop, said Nam, adding that every business knows this is a golden opportunity to improve the quality and competitiveness of their products.
As businesses have promoted the application of advanced technologies, their products are now highly competitive. They hope that consumers will change their altitude towards Vietnamese goods.
In addition, efforts to bring Vietnamese products to rural areas, promotion programmes, exhibitions, and fairs have helped consumers across the country access high-quality Vietnamese products and avoid buying counterfeit products.
According to a previous survey taken by the US-based Grey Group, only 23 Vietnamese consumers prefer domestic products but a recent survey by TV Plus showed that this figure has now risen to 58 percent.
Stepping up the advertising of Vietnamese products
However, many economists have raised concerns that some businesses made illicit use of the “Vietnamese using Vietnamese products” campaign and committed trade fraud by clearing out their stock and out of date products, which was not good for consumers.
MoIT Deputy Minister Ho Thi Kim Thoa admitted that besides its remarkable achievements, the campaign had also revealed a number of shortcomings, mainly poor coordination between localities and businesses. Local trade fairs have not attracted large numbers of businesses with well-known trademarks and have failed to form links between producers, distributors and consumers. Some trade fairs could only showcase or sell products, but could not build up a reputation for locally-made products, she noted.
Many domestic businesses do not pay enough attention to conducting market research and developing their trademarks in the local market. They still lack customer-care services and marketing skills so they are unsuccessful at satisfying consumer taste in the domestic market. Therefore, to promote Vietnamese products in rural areas and receive a strong response from rural consumers, said Ms Thoa, it is essential to have incentive policies and mechanisms that offer more benefits to consumers if they buy made-in-Vietnam products.
Ms Thoa also stressed the need to establish a better distribution network to ensure commodities are within the reach of rural consumers.
She said that the MoIT will continue to implement strict regulations on input materials and will use the State budget to boost trade promotions in order to help local businesses advertise their products, build trademarks and expand their markets. In the third quarter of this year, the Ministry will hold a conference to review and evaluate trade promotions and draw up similar programmes for 2011 and the following years, she added.
(VOVNEWS)
