Footwear industry takes steps to capture domestic market

In addition to focusing on exports, Vietnamese footwear manufacturers are driving towards dominating the domestic market of more than 90 million potential clients.

Potential

According to experts, the domestic market holds great potential for footwear manufacturers with its large consumer demand. In order to cash in on their market segment, Vietnamese businesses have made their products available in domestic distribution channels such as supermarkets, shopping centers, traditional markets and stores.

Surveys of footwear for this year’s summer season reveal a great variety of goods, both domestically produced and imported from Chinese-Taipei, China and Thailand.

The Binh Tien Imex Corp. (Biti’s), for example, introduces a series of children’s shoes this year with prices ranging between VND150,000-200,000 a pair. Prices of adult shoes produced in the country start at VND300,000-350,000 a pair, lower than imported products that cost VND400,000-500,000 a pair.

Domestically produced footwear not only has a price advantage, manufacturers are increasingly focusing on high-quality design and production. Hai Phong City’s Phuong Quynh Footwear Company has launched 10 shoe designs for the coming summer. The company is focusing on producing high-quality shoes this year with prices starting at around VND1 million a pair.

Boosting production

According to the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (LEFASO), the country consumes around 150 million pairs of shoes a year. However domestic production has only met 40 percent of demand. Therefore, the domestic market holds great promise for footwear manufacturers.

Phan Thi Thanh Xuan, the general-secretary of LEFASO, said that domestic footwear manufacturers need to promote links by buying materials from local suppliers to reduce their costs and contribute to reducing dependence on imported raw materials. In addition, the state needs to provide more support for footwear manufacturers.

Delivery costs are one of the concerns. Therefore, storage warehouses are needed for greater economic efficiency, improving competitiveness and reducing product prices.

Viet Nga & Thanh Tam / VEN