HCM CITY — Việt Nam’s strong economic growth and rapid increase in per capita income has driven demand for a better quality of life, thus the development of the interiors market, including for mattresses, according to experts.

In its Việt Nam mattress market report, Ken Research Company of India said the market saw compounded annual growth rate of 7.6 per cent in the 2011-16 period.

It is expected to reach US$291 million by 2021, it said.

Growing demand from the residential and commercial sectors has driven the market.

In addition, the development of the hospitality industry with an increasing number of hotels and rooms has directly increased the demand for quality mattresses, the research company said.

According to experts, Việt Nam has around 25 million families and some 40 per cent of them use mattresses. With the average lifespan of a mattress being seven years, the demand is for at least four million new mattresses each year, not to mention the needs of new families.

Therefore, there is still much room for it to grow, they said.

In addition to famous domestic companies such as Vạn Thành, Liên Á and Kim Đan, the market has also attracted a number of foreign brands such as Everon, Kingsdown and Dunlopillo from South Korea, the US, UK, and other countries.

A wide range of products from foam mattresses to pressed cotton mattresses, spring mattresses and latex mattresses are available in the market, meeting all kinds of customers’ demands.

Trương Tỵ, general director of Vạn Thành Mattress Company, told Tuổi Trẻ newspaper that his company sells 80,000 latex mattresses each year at VNĐ5-20 million (US$215.5-862) and more than 90,000 spring mattresses at lower prices.

Insiders said there is fierce competition between domestic companies as well as between them and foreign brands.

To meet the needs of consumers, many enterprises focus on improving technologies, production processes and creating quality products which can compete with foreign brands and even be exported, they said.

Tỵ said: "Foreign enterprises have invested in factories in Việt Nam to serve their export markets and exploit the local market. Therefore, to compete, Vietnamese firms must constantly innovate technology and improve product quality and, especially, develop their distribution network.”

Nguyễn Tuấn, a retail expert, told the newspaper that now selling a mattress does not stop merely with selling a product: customers need more information related to their sleep such as best sleeping positions and others.

Those companies who understand this trend would convince the market, he said.

Considering the potential of the mattress industry, many economists said, more players would enter the market.

However, for local companies to compete with large foreign rivals, they need to invest in the whole chain from raw materials and equipment to technology and quality management, they added. — VNS