Vietnamese Food Needs Common Brand

However, enterprises have not paid attention to the construction of brand names for Vietnamese food. As a result, many products do not have stable positions in the global market. Therefore, the construction of brand names for Vietnamese food industry is a concerning matter for enterprises.

Not focus on creating brand names

According to the survey of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnamese food is highly natural and different from those of other nations. However, the food industry in Vietnam has not exploited this advantage. Indeed, the quality of the products has not been upgraded, since the food industry only focuses on the number.

By the end of 2014, the Department of Trade Promotion (the Ministry of Industry and Trade) officially kicked off the national branding program of the Vietnamese food industry with the aim of positioning the overall brand for the industry. However, many export products are not known to consumers as Vietnamese ones, because Vietnamese products tend to be branded with foreign retailers.

Customers at Vietnamese Product exhibition in Hanoi.

Deputy Director of the Hanoi Trade – Investment – Tourism Promotion Center Nguyen Thi Mai Anh said: Currently, Vietnam has had hundreeds of food and processed agricultural products that have participated in the export market. However, only a few brands such as Trung Nguyen coffee, Vinamit, and Acecook noodles are known to the world. “In reality, at the week of Vietnamese products at the supermarket chain AEON (Japan), Chinese enterprises imported large quantities of lychees from Vietnam, then exported the fruit to Japan under the brand name Made in China. Furthermore, Korean market is importing 90% of Vietnamese coffee, but the majority of consumers of this country mistakenly think that those products are from Brazil,” Ms. Mai Anh provided some examples.

In reality, Vietnamese enterprises that sell agricultural products mainly export raw materials. In particular, vegetables and fruits are largely unprocessed and either preliminarily processed or remain as raw materials. The products are packaged in cans, fruit juice or dried fruit. Some enterprises, although focused on branding for Vietnamese food, but are still in the process of rebuilding. As a result, they encounter many difficulties when their business partners do not pay the same attention to creating a common brand. In addition, Vietnamese companies are currently lacking linkages, so there are not any standards set based on common ground, making it difficult for the food industry to build a strong brand.

Brand positioning

In order to support enterprises in fields of agro, forestry and fisheries developing brand, Ministry of Trade & Industry, Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing countries (CBI) of Netherlands and the EU – Vietnam Multilateral Trade Project (EU - MUTRAP) have jointly developed Vietnam food branding strategy. As such, from the period 2018-2020, the program will carry out public relations promotion and advertisement for Vietnam food.

According to the country director of CBI Koos Van Eyk, developing food branding is a right direction, which has been applied successfully in Asian countries such as Thailand and Korea. Food branding is supposed to support enterprises looking for international partners in product distribution. However, besides developing brand for the whole sector, enterprises should also focus on building their own brand, in turn developing suitable production strategy.

Vice Director of the Trade Promotion Department – Do Kim Lan said, enterprises in fields of agro, forestry and fisheries looking for brand development, should change their awareness to meet the market demands, such as: putting priority on the product quality and product diversification; modern technology application in production; improve linkage with retailing enterprises in distribution channel expansion.

The Vietnam food branding strategy to support enterprises in promoting their products and brands are being initiated and expected to help Vietnam food in accessing international market. However, this is only the beginning, while in the long term, during the process of brand building enterprises must identify targets, trends, demands and even study competitors, and the logo meaning.

By Hanoitimes