Why is niche marketing better than mass marketing

Many of Hanoi’s traditional markets have attracted fewer customers after the Covid-19 pandemic. At around 9 am on March 22, Nga Tu So Market in Dong Da District was quiet, with more traders than customers. A man who works for the market’s parking lot said that over the past few years, just 20-30 motorbikes have been kept there every day compared to the hundreds a decade ago. Dang Viet Bang, deputy head of Dong Da District’s Market Management Board, said amid the fierce competition from online shopping, the number of traders at Nga Tu So Market has fallen to 200 compared to the previous 754. Some areas in the market have seriously deteriorated. Kim Yen, a 59-year-old trader, often turns on music to exercise as she has so much free time. Kim Giang Market in Thanh Xuan District is in the same situation. Ha The Hoach, owner of an electronic shop, said more people flock to supermarkets and shopping malls to buy electronic products, causing … [Read more...] about Hanoi traditional markets suffer fall in sales

Land law adjustments aim to protect entities as well as the real estate market, photo Le Toan In a seminar to collect opinions from enterprises and experts regarding amendments to the Law on Land held last week in Ho Chi Minh City, Seck Yee Chung, a representative of the Vietnam Business Forum’s Trade and Investment Working Group, said that Article 35.d of the draft law provided that domestic companies only have the right to mortgages with their land and properties attached to the land at credit institutions licensed to operate in Vietnam. “This means that companies in Vietnam cannot mortgage their factory or land through foreign lenders, which creates great challenges for them to access competitive financing resources outside the country,” Chung said at the seminar, which was organised by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE). “Foreign lenders will look for security assets of Vietnamese companies to secure their … [Read more...] about Land law points further scrutinised

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, but indicated it was on the verge of pausing further increases in borrowing costs after the recent collapse of two U.S. banks. Fed Chair Jerome Powell sought to reassure investors about the soundness of the banking system, saying that the management of Silicon Valley Bank "failed badly," but that the bank's collapse did not indicate wider weaknesses in the banking system. "These are not weaknesses that are running broadly through the banking system," he said, adding that the takeover of Credit Suisse seemed to have been a positive outcome. The Federal Open Market Committee policy statement also said the U.S. banking system is "sound and resilient." Even so, Wall Street ended sharply lower after Powell told a news conference that officials were still intent on fighting inflation while also eying the extent to which recent bank failures had cooled demand and slowed lending. The … [Read more...] about U.S. Fed delivers small rate hike amid global banking turmoil

We are facing a challenging business environment on a global scale. How do you evaluate the support the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) has and the wider Vietnamese business community? Arsjad Rasjid, chairman of ASEAN BAC 2023 In our country we have something called Indonesia Incorporated, where the government and the private sector work together. This is very important and, at the ASEAN level, we should have an ASEAN Incorporated, where the governments and the business community work together. This is because there are multiple challenges. For instance, we have 280 million people in ASEAN. If we didn’t have the public and the private sectors working together, we would not have been able to solve issues like carrying out mass vaccinations during the pandemic. If we work together on ASEAN connectivity, on energy for example, we can maintain our security with this synergy. We are a $3.2 trillion economy. However, with more efforts towards ASEAN … [Read more...] about Vietnam can enhance its role further within ASEAN

Christanto Suryadarma, sales vice president for Southeast Asia at Zebra Technologies, told VIR at a press briefing on March 21, “There are many industries that we can participate with in Vietnam to modernise and automate. Transportation logistics is a key, and we are already gaining customers in this field. We are also starting to see some good use cases in healthcare, and we want to continue growing that." "Recently, we also saw interest from the Vietnamese government in terms of safety and security, looking at how they can equip security and police officers with our technology to improve safety and productivity,” he added. Christanto Suryadarma, sales vice president for Southeast Asia, Zebra Technologies Retail and manufacturing are now the two best performing industries for Zebra Technologies in Vietnam. For example, in retail, the company sees many retailers automating and digitalising using its solutions. Moreover, the nation is now a strategic location for … [Read more...] about Zebra Technologies eyes potential of logistics, healthcare, and public sectors in Vietnam

The second annual report on foreign investment in Vietnam for 2022 released earlier in March by the Vietnam’s Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises noted that the United States has decreased corporate income tax from 25 to 21 per cent, while also reforming investment licensing procedures. In addition, the US government is applying higher taxes on imported products to increase the competitiveness of several industrial sectors, such as energy, automobiles, steel, and aluminium. Vietnam may need to come up with new tactics to retain foreign investors, photo Le Toan Besides that, the US is also promoting a “prosperous economic network” that connects allied countries to build supply chains of products such as semiconductors and 5G-related technology. In Europe, some countries such as Germany and Italy have also unveiled policies to limit investment in overseas markets, while France is encouraging its enterprises to expand their operation in high-value sectors, such as … [Read more...] about Gains feasible through large-scale FDI

The energy transition in Vietnam is tied to the rapid growth of the economy, urbanisation, and industrialisation. We have seen the strong aspiration of the government to speed up the energy transition while meeting the requirements of economic development and the goal of becoming a high-income country by 2045. Energy transition is more seen as a potential engine for employment, and this trend will likely grow, helping to build support for renewables. John Rockhold, head of the Power and Energy Working Group under the Vietnam Business Forum Fossil energy sources are gradually being replaced by green and clean energy sources, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combating climate change, while Vietnam is one of the first countries to renew its nationally determined contribution to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2020. The roadmap for the country’s transition process towards green and sustainable development will not only need to ensure … [Read more...] about Displaying readiness for the energy transition in Vietnam

High pedestal to reach for 2023’s growth ambitions Vietnam’s economic growth is projected to ease to 6.3 per cent in 2023 from a robust 8.02 per cent last year, as services growth moderates and higher prices and interest rates weigh on households and investors, according to the World Bank’s latest Taking Stock report released last week. Growth is expected to pick up to 6.5 per cent in 2024 as the economies of Vietnam’s main export markets gain strength, the report said. The outlook for Vietnam reflects heightened uncertainty in the global economy. Downside risks include weaker-than-expected growth in Vietnam’s major export markets, which include the United States, China, and the Eurozone, tightening financial conditions, higher domestic inflation, weaknesses in the balance sheets of corporate, banking and household sectors, and financial sector vulnerabilities. The Vietnamese government has set a target that GDP will increase 5.6 per cent in Q1, 6.7 per cent in Q2, 6.5 per … [Read more...] about High pedestal to reach for 2023’s growth ambitions

Some branches are taking care of the registration fee for car buyers, but sales are still not being boosted, photo Le Toan In a document sent to the prime minister last week, the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA) along with other associations asked the government to extend the payment of special consumption tax and reduce the registration fee of domestically manufactured and assembled cars by a half this year, in order to stimulate demand. A VAMA representative said that the domestic car sales market is in a gloomy situation, and has been struggling like many other industries since 2020. “In order to stimulate market demand, we need strong enough policies like extending the payment of excise tax in 2023 and taking 50 per cent off the registration fee. These should be applied as soon as possible,” emphasised the representative. To combat the effects of the pandemic, the government chopped the registration fee in half for domestically manufactured and assembled … [Read more...] about Auto makers project bumpy years ahead

A Vietnamese man has chosen to follow the newest agricultural trend which guarantees both profit and quality, with human health always in his mind. While most villagers in Son La Province, located in northwestern Vietnam, still rely heavily on pesticides when growing vegetables and fruits, 30-year-old Vu Xuan Thanh pioneers clean agriculture practices with his organic crops. The Na San region, near Son La’s airport, is where Thanh’s orange garden is located. Customers are often invited to visit, observe, and acquaint themselves with clean agricultural practices that are becoming Thanh’s values to guarantee safety and quality of the goods he sells. Thanh’s garden of one hectare is covered with orange trees with ripe fruits hanging off of the branches that look like orange polka dots on a green background from afar. All these oranges are waiting to be reaped and sold in Hanoi’s organic grocery store chain ahead of Tet, when many kinds of fruit are in high demand. Tet is the … [Read more...] about Vietnamese man brings organic agriculture to his village