A man rides a motorbike carrying corrugated iron past the State Bank of Vietnam in Hanoi on July 27, 2023. (Photo by Nhac NGUYEN / AFP)
HANOI: Vietnam’s furniture market has been said to be among some of the fastest growing in the Asia-Pacific region, attracting major international brands to enter the country in recent years, say industry experts.
Central Retail, a large Thai retailer, recently launched its Come Home brand, a furniture and home decor business in SC VivoCity, a shopping centre located in District 7 in Ho Chi Minh City last month.
Come Home is one of Central Retail’s major projects in Vietnam and a key part of the group’s US$1bil investment in the South-East Asian economy. A representative from Central Retail said the group has full confidence in Vietnam’s market potential for growth based on its own research, which projected the market’s revenue to reach US$1.4bil by the end of this year.
In addition, the market has shown an annual growth rate of about 10% from 2023-2027 with a large portion of the growth contributed to living room furniture, estimated at US$523mil for this year alone. Other segments including bedroom furniture and decorative items are experiencing rapid growth, according to the group’s data.
The group said despite an ongoing global economic downturn and diminishing purchasing power, there is still strong demand for furniture in the Vietnam market, fuelled by a strong movement of modernisation and personalisation in the living space.
The Thai retail group isn’t the only international brand setting up shops in Vietnam over the last few years, hoping to capitalise on the market’s explosive development, lower tariffs, improved trade environment and logistics, said experts.
JYSK, an international retail chain from Denmark specialising in providing Nordic-Scandinavian style decoration and furniture, opened a new store in the Indochina Plaza Hanoi Residences in the capital city.
Since its debut into the Vietnam market in 2015, JYSK has been constantly expanding its collection of product offerings including interior furnishings, decorations, household items, bedding and mattresses, as well as balcony and garden outdoor furniture.
The Danish retail chain is currently running 12 stores across the country, according to a JYSK representative.
As international brands start making an impact on the domestic market, domestic brands have been wasting no time improving their products’ quality to better position themselves to retain and gain more market share.
For example, Hoa Phat’s interior furniture, traditionally a mid-range segment player in office furniture, has introduced The One chain, an upscale store aiming at the mid to high-end segment of the market in April this year.
“There are currently several interior furniture brands competing for this segment such as A Concept, Baya, MOHO, JYSK, Nha Xinh, Index Living Mall, Chilai, BoConcept – Premium Furniture, and Sonder Living. Many Vietnamese customers have shown their preference for imported products including Scandinavian, European, and Japanese brands”, said Trang Le, an interior design consultant from Ho Chi Minh City.
According to a Mordor Intelligence report, the scale of the Vietnamese furniture market is expected to expand from US$1.4bil in 2023 to US$1.82bil in 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.33% during the period.
Meanwhile, the South-East Asian economy’s wood export turnover has been increasing in size as the country’s wood sector transformed into a future global product hub thanks to its strong raw material industries. Vietnamese furniture products have been well-received in over 120 countries including major markets such as the US, the EU, the UK, Canada, Japan and Australia. — Viet Nam News/ANN
