Vietnam’s rural market, which accounts for nearly 97% of the entire retail sector, has great, untapped potential for Vietnamese businesses to exploit.

According to Nguyen Duy Thuan, a sales expert who previously worked for Unilever, Nestle and Hau Giang Pharmaceuticals, says businesses are aware of the rural market, but that a pilot sales promotion program is needed as a model to help businesses gain access to local markets.

Mr. Thuan noted that Vietnamese businesses’ sales system does not effectively cover the rural market yet, and that the “Made-in-Vietnam” trademark has not yet been quantified. These are the reasons “helping” the proliferation of fake and low-quality commodities and fake Chinese products flooding the domestic Vietnamese market.

In fact, foreign retail businesses such as Unilever, P&G, and Pepsi see these gaps as assets to promote their sales in the Vietnamese market. “Foreign companies which are “strong” in Vietnam also “strong” in rural areas,” Mr. Thuan stated; summarizing his opinion by quoting that three fourths of Unilever’s sales come from rural areas and that 80 percent of the pentration into the Vietnamese market share by foreign insurance companies, namely Prudential and Manulife, are in rural areas.

Tran Quy Thanh, President of the Tan Hiep Phat Group said that sales receipts and overall income earned from rural areas was almost the same as that from urban areas. However, Vietnamese businesses were meet with difficulties in supplying commodities to rural areas in a timely manner, thus, their efforts in advertising and promoting their trademarks to rural customers were not as cost effective as for urban customers.

Mr. Thuan revealed two important sales secrets for increasing sales in rural areas, stockpiling goods to ensure a timely supply and training an efficient and friendly sales force to provide discipline for sellers. While measures undertaken by foreign businesses to speed up sales in rural areas, such as sending car caravans to villages and communes, with banners and discount programmes created confidence for their trademarks amongst rural customers.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu said that Vietnamese businesses’ capacity to expand their market share to every corner of rural areas was weak because of their lack of professional business skills.

“Vietnamese businesses are completely capable of doing market research and learning about the needs and demands of rural Vietnamese customers. If they do this, they will win success on the home field,” recommended Deputy Minister Tu.

Vietnamese businesses can not compete with foreign companies through capital, technology and management experience, but they can through their knowledge of Vietnamese culture and the needs and demands of Vietnamese customers. “Culture is not an easy thing to learn, and it is a very big burden for any foreigners to learn, even for those who have lived for many years in another country,” emphasized Deputy Minister Tu. (CPV)