Bringing Thanh Hoa goods into supermarkets: Is it really difficult?

On the shelves of Co.op mart Thanh Hoa Supermarket there are dozens of fish sauce brands, but currently there is only Le Gia product from Thanh Hoa.

The subject is still hesitant.

Including the Northern and North Central regions, Thanh Hoa is considered the "capital" of fish sauce with many traditional craft villages hundreds of years old such as Ba Lang, Khuc Phu, Quang Nham... Up to now, hundreds of large and small fish sauce production facilities have been and are maintaining operations throughout the coastal areas of the province. Accordingly, fish sauce and fish sauce products of the province are considered a very potential industry with many advantages. However, a survey at supermarkets in the province shows that Thanh Hoa fish sauce is almost absent, while products from other provinces are flooding the shelves.

In Hai Binh ward, the largest fish sauce production facility belongs to Hai Binh Seafood Processing Cooperative with the association of nearly a dozen local fish sauce factory owners into a production complex according to a standard. Since 2019 and 2020, 3 products of fish sauce, shrimp paste and shrimp paste named Vi Thanh of the Cooperative have been recognized as meeting OCOP standards. By 2021, the fish sauce product continued to be certified by the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam, then the central and provincial authorities continued to certify the product as meeting ISO: 2200, food hygiene and safety, HACCP... With the above standards, Vi Thanh fish sauce products can completely enter the supermarket retail channel to develop the market across the country.

Director of Hai Binh Seafood Processing Cooperative Nguyen The Hoang said: "Every year, the Cooperative produces from 3,000 to 5,000 liters of various types of fish sauce, about 20 tons of shrimp paste and prawn paste. To develop the market for its products, every year the Cooperative participates in dozens of exhibitions and fairs to introduce and sell products inside and outside the province. Every month and every quarter, I myself bring my mobile cart to participate in the An Lanh small market in Hac Thanh ward, taking advantage of every opportunity to sell products."

Regarding the suggestion of bringing his fish sauce and fish sauce products to supermarkets, Mr. Hoang said that it was a dream, a very good channel for brand development. However, he did not know anyone in the supermarkets to connect with, plus he was worried about many strict regulations, and complicated paperwork. Another "worry" was that the production facility was not large enough, afraid that it would be difficult to compete with similar products...

In Kien Long village, Van Loc commune, the bird's nest breeding and processing facility of Xu Thanh Bird's Nest Production and Trading Company Limited has had 7 varieties with 12 famous commercial product codes after more than 10 years of establishment. Not only developing the retail market in Thanh Hoa, the company has also brought its products to a number of provinces and cities and is completing procedures to develop the Chinese market. Although it has become a famous brand, the company's products have not been available in supermarkets.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Tu, Director of Xu Thanh Bird's Nest Production and Trading Company Limited: "If my products can enter the supermarket, it would be great, but for a long time I have been afraid of complicated criteria and procedures, so I am still hesitant. Moreover, I do not know who to connect with, what are the specific procedures to be able to bring goods to the supermarket. I also heard that if I bring goods to the supermarket, I will only be paid once every 3 months, so I have not really been interested in it for a long time"...

As for bird's nest products such as stewed bird's nest and raw bird's nest, the company always has a large source all year round because it has invested in dozens of bird's nest houses in the Central Highlands and bird's nest farms in Thanh Hoa. Currently, the bird's nest refining facility in Van Loc commune can process 7,000 70ml jars of stewed bird's nest every day. Not only meeting the 4-star OCOP standard for many years, the company's products also meet the highest standards in Vietnam today, and can be completely consumed through the supermarket system.

Still open to local goods

The two largest supermarkets in Thanh Hoa province are Co.opmart Thanh Hoa and Go! Thanh Hoa (formerly BigC Thanh Hoa Supermarket), both located in the central urban ward of Hac Thanh. At Go! Thanh Hoa, the quantity of goods originating from Thanh Hoa is not much, because this is a retail system operated by foreign enterprises, with its own criteria. In recent years, Co.opmart Thanh Hoa Supermarket has had a policy of prioritizing local goods, and has accompanied hundreds of entities in market development.

Leading reporters to visit the shelves, Director of Thanh Hoa Co.opmart Supermarket Nguyen Van Dung introduced many "made in Thanh Hoa" products that are being sold. Right from the first floor door, there are shelves of Lam Son yellow melons, many kinds of vegetables and fruits of cooperatives and owners, to Hien Nhuan eggs, and clean pork... originating from the plains of the province. Thanh Hoa mountainous products have dried bamboo shoots, many OCOP products are also available in the supermarket. We were surprised when the list of Thanh Hoa goods that have been retailed through Thanh Hoa Co.opmart Supermarket has increased to more than 400 products. The goods are very diverse, from spices to fruits, from food to food... A product with a shelf life of one day, which was thought to be only sold in traditional markets or along the road, is tofu pieces from a household in Hac Thanh ward, also supplied and put on the shelves of this supermarket.

According to Director Nguyen Van Dung, “Co.op mart Thanh Hoa is ready to facilitate the province’s goods to enter the supermarket, as long as they meet all the criteria. In fact, over the years, the supermarket has successfully guided the documents and procedures for many entities. Many of these items, as the supermarket recognized, are of good quality, have characteristics and potential, so it has proactively contacted the Department of Agriculture and Environment to request information and then contacted the production entities. In cases where entities proactively come to the contact and contact the supermarket to cooperate in bringing goods in, there are very few.”

According to Mr. Dung, the best-selling Thanh Hoa products today are Lam Son melons, leafy vegetables, Le Gia fish sauce... Currently, the supermarket is selling about 20,000 products, of which only 5% are foreign products such as drinks, Western wine, foreign candies, the remaining 95% are good quality domestic products. As for products originating from Thanh Hoa, as of early November 2025, there are more than 400 types, accounting for more than 2% of the total products distributed by the supermarket. According to Mr. Dung, this is a ratio equivalent to many southern provinces, higher than some northern provinces where Co.op mart branches are operating.

“The weakness of most Thanh Hoa products is that they do not pay much attention to promotion, so they are often weaker than similar products from other provinces in terms of brand recognition. For example, fish sauce products, except for Le Gia which is regularly sold on shelves, other brands are almost absent, while dozens of southern fish sauce brands sell very well right in Thanh Hoa,” said Mr. Dung.

According to the Director of Co.op mart Thanh Hoa, Thanh Hoa has a lot of products, but many cooperatives and individual producers have not paid attention to legal documents, so when offering products, the supermarket's appraisal has not passed. Many products are sometimes in surplus, sometimes in shortage, so they have to stop, the reason is that the subjects lack connection to have a year-round source of goods, for example, Thach Thanh guava and some types of vegetables and fruits... Some products have entered the supermarket, but when needed, due to unprofessional transportation interruptions, they have to stop.

One information that many producers are concerned about is that when bringing goods to supermarkets, they have to wait a long time to recover their capital. Mr. Dung affirmed: "In recent years, at Thanh Hoa Co.op mart Supermarket, payment for goods is made within 1 to 3 days after receiving invoices and complete procedures, the longest is not more than 2 weeks. All cases of importing and selling goods are issued with transparent electronic invoices, even in cases where households supply tofu without invoices, the supermarket must coordinate with the tax authority to guide households to implement the regulations correctly. The unit also does not calculate discounts for producers like many supermarket systems in the South, so producers can rest assured that they will not be afraid of having their profits deducted after the goods are on the shelves."

According to information from the industry and trade sector, Thanh Hoa province currently has 24 supermarkets, not including 2 shopping centers and a system of more than 100 convenience stores. Some small supermarkets located in communes and wards in the old district center also have local goods for sale. Before the district dissolution, the old Thieu Hoa district government also connected and brought 9 OCOP products and typical products to The City Supermarket. Xuan Hieu Mart in Trung Chinh commune specializes in selling clean pork from a local biosafety breeding facility. Hoang Thao Moc Tea and Ca Gai Leo Tea bags of Hoang Thao Moc Company Limited (Hac Thanh ward) have been displayed, introduced and sold at Go! Thanh Hoa Supermarket for many years...

According to the latest synthesis from the Provincial New Rural Development Program Coordination Office, by October 2025, Thanh Hoa had 661 OCOP products recognized. Along with that are hundreds of craft village products, quality typical products, many of which can be completely brought into supermarkets. In fact, when goods have been traded through the supermarket system, they are naturally considered to have been raised to a "higher level" than floating consumption. Also according to information from the representative of Co.op mart Thanh Hoa Supermarket, if a product of the province enters the branch in Thanh Hoa, it also means that it will enter all supermarkets of the same system nationwide.

Article and photos: Le Dong

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/dua-hang-hoa-xu-thanh-vao-sieu-thi-co-that-su-kho-267884.htm