Not yet fully exploited
According to the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade, the entire city currently has 1,350 craft villages producing handicrafts, with wooden products, rattan, ceramics, glass, textiles, yarn, embroidery, knitting... Although the products of Hanoi craft villages have reached many international markets such as Japan, the US, the European Union (EU), the handicraft industry has not yet fully exploited its potential and strengths, and is not yet competitive compared to similar products from countries in the region such as China, India, the Philippines...
The reason is that product designs are slow to innovate. Some products are made according to existing models on the market, lacking creativity. In addition, many handicraft designs have high creativity and aesthetics but are not suitable for customer tastes or are difficult to produce for large orders...
It is worth mentioning that consumer awareness of craft villages, craft village products, and craft village brands with many different values is still limited. The issue of brand building has not received proper attention and investment. Many small-scale production facilities have duplicate designs and do not invest in brand identity, packaging, or product stories. Standards such as FSC, ISO, CE, or FDA, which are mandatory in many demanding markets, have not been widely applied in production. Not to mention, the lack of design strategies, marketing, and e-commerce capabilities also makes it difficult for craft village products to reach international customers, despite good quality and competitive prices.
As a locality accounting for 45% of traditional craft villages nationwide, Hanoi with about 176,000 craft households has recently begun to pay attention to brand development. The maintenance and promotion of craft village brands has been directed by communes and wards. Most of the products of craft villages today are based on a common name related to the location of the craft village such as: Bat Trang pottery, Dai Bai bronze, Van Phuc silk...
According to Dr. Dao Cao Son (University of Commerce), many production and business establishments in craft villages have initially made certain investments in branding, from naming the brand, designing logos, slogans, signs to creating catalogs and building websites to introduce products. However, currently, branding for products in many establishments is still limited, with almost no identifiable elements for the brand other than the name on the signboard.
Quality measure, creating trust for consumers
According to Trinh Quoc Dat, Chairman of the Vietnam Craft Villages Association, in a market flooded with similar products, a strong brand helps distinguish traditional handicrafts from industrial and counterfeit goods. The brand is also a measure of quality and origin, creating trust for domestic and international consumers.
Not only does it create differentiation, branding also opens the door for products to access modern distribution channels such as supermarkets, e-commerce, and global retail chains. When there is a brand, products are priced more accurately, output is stable, workers' income increases, and rural economic development is contributed to.
Brand protection is a vital factor in preventing counterfeiting and maintaining the reputation of craft villages. For products with deep cultural values such as wooden furniture, lacquerware, and mother-of-pearl inlay, brand is also a tool to preserve and promote identity.
Faced with the increasing demands of the market, many craft villages and businesses have proactively changed towards professionalization. Typically, Dong Ky fine art wood craft village ( Bac Ninh ) has registered the collective trademark "Dong Ky", built a showroom and promoted exports to Korea and Japan.
La Xuyen craft village (Ninh Binh) is famous for its exquisitely carved wooden products for cultural and religious works, and now has products that have achieved 4-star OCOP certification; Truong Son Company (Hanoi) applies FSC standards - international legal wood sources, opening the way for exports to the EU. Some establishments have applied e-commerce, bringing products to e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Etsy, Alibaba..., contributing to promoting Vietnamese wooden products to the world.
In order to raise awareness of developing craft village brands in Vietnam, Dr. Dao Cao Son said that craft villages need to complete the system of identifying craft village brands and brands of production and business establishments. Accordingly, the general brand identification system for craft villages requires unification and standardization of important elements such as brand names, logos, brand designs, and the development of common regulations for the use of collective trademarks, etc. as a premise for registration activities, helping to create a consistent brand image and increase recognition from customers.
At the same time, it is necessary to establish a comprehensive development plan for craft villages, along with support measures and propaganda programs to ensure that craft villages develop synchronously and effectively. Linking craft village brands with tourism development. Currently, this model has been implemented in a number of craft villages and brought good results, helping craft village brands become more famous, promoting local economic development.
To elevate the handicraft brand to international standards, the Department of Industry and Trade proposes to support the construction of a professional brand identity system with logo design, slogan, packaging and label standardization; forming a brand story based on the identity of the craft village. In addition, support businesses to achieve ISO, FSC, CE, FDA certifications...; apply green production, transparent traceability; as well as support comprehensive intellectual property protection.
Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/xay-dung-thuong-hieu-dat-chuan-quoc-te-don-bay-cho-hang-thu-cong-my-nghe-725933.html
Comment (0)