VN businesses must be more professional to expand in French market

Ambassador Dinh Toan Thang introduces a Vietnamese five-fruit tray ((mam ngu qua) at Vietnamese Lunar New Year Week in a French Carrefour supermarket. — VNA/VNS Photo

The Viet Nam Trade Office in France has revealed that supermarkets and retail distribution chains in France have plans to increase the percentage of Vietnamese goods in their distribution system.

These opportunities also present challenges for Vietnamese businesses. Those who want to succeed must have a professional approach and long-term strategy, focusing not only on buying and selling, said Vu Anh Son, head of the Viet Nam Trade Office in France.

To penetrate deeper into the French market, Son said that within a Ministry of Industry and Trade project on foreign distribution networks, the trade office had developed a suitable approach.

For partners who are large distribution corporations that do not have a development policy in Viet Nam, the trade office has applied a practical approach, bringing benefits to all parties.

For example, on January 20, 2022, the French retail group Carrefour held Vietnamese Lunar New Year (Tet) Week at its supermarket chain to introduce Vietnamese cuisine to French consumers.

"Through this event, Vietnamese goods's brand and image have been promoted in the French market through more than 3,400 Carrefour supermarkets, especially 216 hypermarkets across France," said Son.

A weakness in building the image of Vietnamese goods and penetrating deeper into the French market is businesses only targeting Vietnamese and Asian customers in France, Nhat Thanh Khiem, general director of TT Foods Import Export Co., told Viet Nam Economic Times.

Khiem said that the biggest limitation of Vietnamese manufacturers was that they did not know much about the market in France, so chose the traditional export market to serve Asians in Europe.

This prevented Vietnamese goods from penetrating the local market. He added that Vietnamese businesses needed to consider marketing and communication plans suitable for local consumers when planning to enter foreign markets.

Businesses must thoroughly understand the market and consumer tastes of the French to have a different approach and marketing strategy, said Khiem. — VNS