Cheap goods reign?

Since the 1997 Asian economic crisis and the subsequent slowdown of many of the world's economic powerhouses, consumers around the world, except for the rich and super-rich, have become increasingly cautious in their purchasing decisions.

They are still willing to spend a large amount of money to buy products with breakthrough features, otherwise they will look for cheap items to satisfy their needs.

The quality gap is narrowing

Although the iPhone 7 launch event still attracted media attention, there was no longer a "crazy" wave from consumers because they expected more breakthroughs. Many people will wait until this product has clearly surpassed its competitors, otherwise they will use older products with increasingly "soft" prices.

Wallets are priced from 65,000 VND - 129,000 VND

In today’s world of technology and telecommunications, competition is fierce. Chinese or Taiwanese mobile phone products can also challenge similar products from the US and Europe in terms of speed, design, ease of repair and warranty, perhaps only slightly inferior in terms of the “smoothness” of the operating system and luxurious image.

In terms of price, the new brands are all lower than the old brands. A Suzuki also has a design that is not inferior to the luxury car brand Land Rover. If you ignore the brand value factor, the hardware of the products does not show much difference.

The shift of production from Europe and North America to Asia since the late 1970s has significantly improved the quality and design of products produced in this region. As European and American investors continued to shift production to areas with cheaper labor costs, Asian countries specializing in outsourcing have turned to self-design, production and business.

The Korean auto industry has made great strides, as has their phone and display industry. The Chinese and Taiwanese computer, phone and fashion industries have followed suit. Asian brands such as Japan, Korea and some Chinese brands have gained the respect of their European and American competitors. The gap in quality and design has really narrowed.

MINISO brand officially entered Vietnam from September 2016

The rise of branded but cheap goods

In the context of economic difficulties and risky life, using branded goods at low prices has become a trend in many places around the world. In Asia alone, this market is worth billions of dollars and many young brands have reached the sales milestone of 1 billion USD in just 3 years. One of the typical representatives of this trend is the Miniso brand originating from Japan, specializing in the production of fashionable consumer goods. Since the first Miniso store opened in late 2013, Miniso has opened more than 1,400 stores worldwide, proving that Miniso has received recognition and love from consumers.

In 2015, Miniso's revenue exceeded 1 billion USD, becoming the world's fastest growing retail brand. This year, the brand continues to maintain its rapid growth rate, expecting to reach 2 billion USD in revenue by the end of the year.

More than 50% of the products in this store are priced at 43,000 VND

Japanese designer Miyake Junya, co-founder of MINISO, shared his secret to success: "We also care about the reasonableness of product prices. If not, no matter how excellent the design is, it will be far from the original wish when establishing the brand, so that every consumer can comfortably buy good items."

MINISO has earned more than 1 billion USD a year by “relieving the burden of purchasing from young people, so that more consumers can feel happy.

Since last year, MINISO has signed agreements with 36 countries and regions including Russia, Taiwan, Mexico, Australia, Canada, the United States, and the number of stores has also increased rapidly. Currently, there are 3 stores in Malaysia, 20 stores in Singapore, and 40 stores in Hong Kong.

In Vietnam, even though it only officially opened at 3 locations in Hanoi on September 10, 2016, this brand has attracted hundreds of people to shop at these stores.

The case of the new symbol of retail success in Asia - MINISO is an interesting lesson for Vietnamese consumer goods manufacturers when they are "sitting on a pile of gold" with more than 90 million domestic consumers and 500 million consumers of a unified ASEAN, with no more tariff barriers from January 1, 2016.

According to dantri