Customers at a cosmetics store in HCM City’s district 1. With its strong growth in recent years, Vietnam’s cosmetics market is attractive to local and foreign enterprises. (Source:VNA)HCM City (VNS/VNA) - TheVietnamese cosmetics market has grown strongly in recent years given the rapideconomic growth and large young population, the Vietnam Association ofEssential Oils, Aromatherapy and Cosmetics has said.
According to Nguyen VanMinh, the association’s deputy chairman, the market is worth around 86 trillionVND (nearly 3.7 billion USD) a year.
Many famous foreign cosmeticbrands have entered Vietnam by opening representative offices, companies andfactories and through agents and distributors, including high-end brands likeEsteé Lauder, Lancome, Shiseido, Fendi, Lower, Clairins, and L'Oreal.
“Some local cosmetics brands suchas Thorakao, Saigon Cosmetic, Lana, Biona, Xmen, and Sao Thai Duong haveachieved a certain position in the market though they just account for smallmarket shares,” he said.
He quoted Nielsen Market ResearchCompany as saying Vietnamese spend only 20 USD per person per month compared to38 USD in Thailand.
Tran Quang Thang, Director of theHCM City Institute of Economics and Management, said: “The middle class, whospend a lot on cosmetics, is set to grow to 33 million by 2020.” Thispoints to huge potential for growth, he said.
Realising this, many foreigncompanies are coming to exhibitions and fairs in Vietnam looking for partnersto distribute their products.
Vicky Huang, a representative ofTaiwan-based Ammon International Inc, participated in the Comobeaute expo heldrecently in HCM City and said: “We are very excited about Vietnam'scosmetics market, which is very hot now.
“By participating in the fair, wewant to introduce our new products – the highly effective fish collagen peptidewith Japanese sakura extract helps reduce and minimise the appearance of futuredark spots – and look for agents in HCM City.”
Suky Lim, CEO of the Republic of Korea’sThreedayslove Co Ltd, said her company had so far focused on exporting itsproducts to China due to its large population. Recently it had studied theVietnamese market and realised it was growing fast, and so decided to enter themarket, she said.
“This is the first time mycompany is participating in the exhibition to introduce our high-qualitycosmetic lines to Vietnamese consumers.
“Vietnam has a large number ofyoung people with high demand for beauty products, offering a good opportunityfor Korean cosmetics brands.”
According to the VietnamAssociation of Essential Oils, Aromatherapy and Cosmetics, the country has 400cosmetics businesses, of which 100 are foreign but account for 90 percent ofsales. This is a big challenge to Vietnamese brands.
Minh said products such asperfumes, facial cleansers and shampoos made by local brands like SaigonCosmetic, Thorakao and Viet Huong were of very good quality, but they focusedexclusively on quality and paid less attention to packaging, design andmarketing leading to low brand identification.
"Most are targeted at themiddle-income market segment, and so their earnings are not very high," hesaid.
He urged local cosmetics firms to“pay more attention to improving their packaging, designs, marketing, andpromotions so that they can capitalise on market opportunities.”-VNS/VNA
VNA
