Walmart, Amazon want to buy more goods from Vietnam

Aly Ansari, senior director of sourcing at Walmart, said at an export forum held Thursday as part of the Vietnam International Sourcing Expo that the country is among the company’s most important supply markets in Asia.

Walmart seeks to cooperate on a larger scale and explore opportunities to source many more products from it, he said.

Walmart now sells Vietnamese fashion products, electronics and toys in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Chile, and China.

Ansari said the company is looking for more suppliers of toys and foods.

Gijae Seong, director of Amazon Global Selling Vietnam, said diversifying and expanding the portfolio of made-in-Vietnam products is among the key focuses.

The volume of Vietnamese goods sold on Amazon has increased by more than 300%, with health and personal care, home, apparel, and beauty products being the top-selling categories.

"We are looking for more products."

Chinese retailer Miniso, which has more than 6,600 stores in 110 markets, also plans to expand tie-ups with Vietnamese suppliers.

Some smaller retailers have also expressed interests in sourcing from Vietnam.

Coppel, with over 1,000 stores in Mexico and Argentina, is selling a small number of Vietnamese furniture products on its platform and has been looking for more suppliers in the last two years.

This year its managers are meeting with 20 potential suppliers of footwear products.

"We love the quality and design of Vietnamese products but prices are a little too high", Jennifer Yuriko Patton Inukai, director of Asia purchasing at Coppel, said.

Coppel is looking for Vietnamese goods to sell in Mexico because both countries are members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang said major retailers’ desire to expand their purchases from Vietnam is driven by their strategy to diversify and ensure a sustainable supply chain.

"They identify Vietnam as a strategic location in the global supply chain."

Herman Xu, general director of quality at Miniso, said Vietnam has advantages in doing trade with North American, ASEAN, and CPTPP markets.

"Tariff differences play an important role. Vietnam benefits from tariff preferences under many FTAs."

Its other advantages are low labor costs, strategic geographic location and improving logistics.

Hoang Cong Trang, CEO of dairy producer TH Group, said there are new standards and regulations in the Europe for carbon emissions and anti-deforestation, and buyers therefore take these factors into account when choosing a supplier.

Vietnam’s exports rose 15% year-on-year to $156.5 billion in the first five months, official data shows.