BPhone - a source of Vietnamese pride

Bach Khoa Corporation (BKAV) has marketed its smartphone model BPhone 3. Unlike BPhone 2, the latest BPhone model won’t be available at The Gioi Di Dong, the leading mobile phone distribution chain in Vietnam. The manufacturer has decided to distribute the products through 300 small shops across the country.

The news has raised a debate among the netizen community. “A technology product of Vietnam, which has been praised by experts, will try to reach customers through small shops. The product, which is a source of Vietnamese pride, cannot find positions on the shelves of large distribution chains,” a commenter wrote.

A member of a technology fans’ forum commented that putting products on sale at large distribution chains is a good way to advertise brands and products, and this is within reach, because most of the largest technology product distributors are Vietnamese owned.

However, Vietnamese manufacturers cannot exploit the advantage.

In another case, Big C, one of the largest general retail chains, after falling into Thai hands, decided to stop cooperation with The Gioi Di Dong. As a result, The Gioi Di Dong’s shops on Big C’s campus had to leave.

A lot of businesses have complained that their products have been gradually dislodged from supermarkets. They have been required to pay unreasonably high discount rates and satisfy unreasonable requirements.

Experts say that Vietnamese products are not good enough to be displayed at supermarkets. Vietnam’s products can be exported to many markets in the world, including the choosiest such as the EU, Japan and the US. The problem lies in distribution.

Dang Dinh Dao from the Hanoi Economics University also said enterprises will have to leave the market if they are not backed by powerful distributors, despite high quality of products.

Vu Vinh Phu, former deputy director of the Hanoi Trade Department, said foreign owned supermarkets are increasingly dominant in the domestic market and Vietnamese supermarkets ‘are taking a leaf out of foreign retailers’ book’.

“I am afraid that we will become hired workers for foreigners. This should be seen as an alarm for Vietnam’s trade,” Phu said.

An analyst said when customers go to Japanese owned supermarkets, they see a flood of Japanese goods there, and when they go to Thai supermarkets, they see a flood of Thai goods. 

Retailers tend to prioritize to distribute the products from their home countries, but Vietnamese do not.

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