A conference on how Vietnamese businesses need to focus on brand building through quality product and services and online channels was held in HCM City yesterday . - VNS Photo Việt Dũng

HCM CITY -- Vietnamese businesses need to focus on brand building and usage of online channels rather than cheap prices, experts said at a conference in HCM City yesterday.

Phạm Thiết Hòa, director of the HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC), said that medium to large-sized businesses had become more aware of the need to improve brand building and protection in recent years.

However, since most businesses in Việt Nam are small, brand building as a whole remains limited, especially compared to global competitors. Many Vietnamese businesses lack human resources and funds for brand building, according to Hòa.

Branding is one of the most important factors for customers since one product can have many producers.

While Việt Nam has many high-quality products with a high number of exports, lacklustre brand building means their value is still low compared to established foreign brands.

Hùng Võ, deputy general director of marketing for Vietnamese footwear company Biti's, said that criteria for product quality changed over time, so businesses would need to keep up with trends and adapt their promotional strategies to maintain customers' attention.

He gave an example of how the durability of Biti's footwear had once been a good selling point, but now it was no longer a top priority for buyers, especially young people, and their products had to keep up with fashion trends and offer more convenience.

For successful brand building, businesses should not focus solely on cheap prices and instead pay more attention to product values and after-sales services, as well as invest more in product research and development, and keep up with, or even create, new trends.

Nguyễn Huy Hoàng, commercial director of Kantar Worldpanel, said the number of e-commerce platforms was on the rise and more consumers were shopping online, so businesses should use online channels for brand building.

According to a report from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in 2020 Việt Nam's e-commerce market has the potential to reach US$13 billion.

The conference was held by ITPC and advertising company Dentsu Aegis Network Việt Nam. - VNS