VietNamNet Bridge – As the competition in the bottled and canned beer market is getting fierce, breweries are rushing to make a profit in the draught-beer market.

Heineken last month launched an aggressive marketing campaign to promote its draught beer products.

Heineken’s international experts were sent to Vietnam to train Vietnamese to brew draught beer, and its marketing staff brought fresh beer to the best-known beer clubs, restaurants, hotels and bars in HCM City.

Declining to give exact figures about the sale, the representative of Heineken said Heineken’s draught beer was present at 11 restaurants in HCM City and eight in Hanoi.

Joining the draught beer market two years earlier than Heineken, Sapporo did not pay much attention to developing the distribution network in Vietnam.

However, the company’s managers have changed their mind, having stepped up marketing and distribution.

A representative of Sapporo said Sapporo had spent money on a training program in Vietnam, under which hundreds of sellers, restaurants, bars, golf courses and beer clubs have been trained how to brew draught beer.

The representative said what prompted Sapporo to make heavier investment in the fresh beer production is the establishment of more and more beer clubs recently, which has increased the popularity of draught beer.

He revealed that draught beer sales over the last year were double of the year before. There are some 60 beer clubs in HCM City, most of which sell draught Sapporo beer.

Following satisfactory business results, the brewery is considering “attacking” the other markets, while planning to raise production capacity from 40 million liters now to 100 million in the time to come and to 150 million liters by 2019.

While foreign breweries are hurrying to march toward the draught beer market, domestic companies stay immovable. The failure of the “pioneers” may make them shrink.

Habeco, for example, began selling fresh beer in 2007, but it does not intend to expand the draught beer market segment because of unsatisfactory draught beer sales.

Habeco keeps making draught beer, but at a small scale and only sells draught beer at some restaurants of its own.

Tan Hiep Phat once marketed bottled draught beer Lazor in late 2003, but the product was unsaleable.

Halida began distributing Carlsberg fresh beer two years ago and the sales have been also unsatisfactory, even though it spent big money on marketing and sale promotion campaigns.

Most recently, in mid-May 2014, the Hanoi-Hai Duong Brewery Company launched Hai Duong into the market, the draught beer was introduced as the company’s highest-quality product.

It reportedly can sell 75,000 kegs of beer, or 150,000 liters of beer, a month, worth VND2.4 billion.

The draught beer, put in 2-liter inox kegs, has been selling well in the provinces of Hai Duong, Hung Yen, Hai Phong, Bac Ninh and Bac Giang.

Meanwhile, Sabeco, the Vietnamese biggest brewery, takes no interest in draught beer.

A senior executive of Sabeco said the profits in the market segment are not really attractive because there are not many potential customers.

VNE