Overcoming prejudice, woman succeeds with 'container goods' business chain

In 2010, Huong started selling "container goods" in Vinh city (Nghe An) when she saw the demand of customers for using genuine but cheap goods. At first, she "sold" bales of goods, but then realized that there were many bad designs, low quality, and no brand.

3 years later, when she had started to "become a veteran" in this field, Huong chose people to "stay undercover" right at the warehouse, recruiting directly from the source, only taking branded goods, 80 - 90% new or more, not accepting mixed goods anymore, even many of which still had the original labels and had never been used.

Shoes at Ms. Huong's store at 44 Ho Han Thuong - Vinh City are all from quite famous brands. Photo: Phu Huong

“Most of the goods are from Japan, Korea, Europe, America, Australia… But among them, I prioritize Japanese and Korean goods because they are suitable for Vietnamese people in terms of design, model, size and style. To have quality goods at cheap prices, in addition to “sending” people to the warehouse to choose goods, I also “anticipate” the demand, from May and June I buy winter goods, January and February I buy summer goods first to get cheap prices”, Huong shared about her business secrets.

Customers can choose new, beautiful, high-quality bags from famous brands at very "affordable" prices. Photo: Phu Huong

With quality items, a wide variety of products and very "soft" prices, from famous brands such as LV, Gucci, Chanel, Valentino handbags..., leather shoes, Prada sports, Nike, Adidas..., Zara, Versace clothes... The above items, if bought new in American or European stores, must have a price of 2,000 USD or more.

Huong's customer base is also very diverse, in addition to Vinh City, they also come from many localities in the province such as Thanh Chuong, Quynh Luu, Yen Thanh, Nghia Dan or Ha Tinh... many of whom have become long-time "followers".

Clothing items are mainly imported from Japan and Korea. Photo: Phu Huong

Ms. Tran Thi Ha, a teacher at a high school in Vinh City, shared: Before, when I was studying at Hanoi National University of Education, I was "addicted" to "AIDS goods" at Kim Lien market. Using "container goods", if you are careful to choose, you will be able to use genuine, "unique" goods, not "collided with", extremely good quality while the amount of money you have to spend is not much.

"Sometimes, a brand-name handbag would cost tens of millions of dong if bought new, but here it is almost brand new and only a few hundred thousand dong, very suitable for the income. Plus, the owner is easy-going, funny, and enthusiastic, so my sisters and I have become regular customers," Ms. Ha added.

Many Japanese and French ceramic items are handmade and have the artisan's name engraved on them. Photo: Phu Huong

From a small store, Huong has now developed into two large stores, one at 44 Ho Han Thuong, Cua Nam Ward, specializing in selling women's goods; the other at 31 Phan Dinh Phung, Cua Nam Ward, specializing in selling men's goods. Every day, she imports 3-4 packages of goods, an average of 50-60 packages/month.

In addition to retail, Huong also has a system of wholesale stores in Nghi Loc, Thanh Chuong, Nam Dan districts..., even "reaching" to neighboring provinces such as Ha Tinh, Hue...

Besides the store system, Huong also uses social networks to sell products; on Facebook she created an accountTuoi Huongto interact and introduce quality products to customers.

In addition to clothes, bags, shoes, accessories, recently "Cua Nam Container Goods" also imports and sells crackled ceramic products, crackled ceramics such as bowls, cups, plates with beautiful, "unique" and strange designs, high quality, originating from France and Japan. In particular, in addition to enameled products, there are also handmade ceramics, engraved with the name of the artisan, many items are also gilded, the new purchase price is up to 40 - 50 million but customers can buy here for just over 1 million VND.