lập kế hoạch tiếp thị cho một cửa hàng trực tuyến bán đồ lưu niệm và sản phẩm thủ công eng

"Create a marketing plan for an online shop selling souvenirs and crafts"
TALBLE OF CONTENTS


I.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Handicraft products are found to have a long tradition in Vietnam and were

exported quite early compared to other commodities; they have contributed positively to
total exports of the country and have an important role in solving some social and
economic problems in rural areas. The group of handicraft products is classified as group
which has great export potential and high margins. It has also been listed in the list of top
10 items with highest growth.
After studying the market of souvenir items and traditinal handicrafts of Vietnam, we
have decided to establish a company specializing in manufacturing, trading and exporting
handicrafts with the main following characteristics:
-

Company name: Import and export commercial joint stock company Gia Hân
(abbreviation: GH.JSC).

-

Products provided: High quality souvenirs and handicraft product made from rattan,
bamboo, sedge, pottery;

-

Business model: Import and export the products made directly from the domestic
materials. Online sales through website or “Online shop” is the main sales channel,

with the headquater combined with showroom to introduce the selected items.

-

Slogan: “Oriental essence”

-

Targets: Within the strategy of production and business development until 2015, the
company will focus on improving product quality of handmade products in order for
them to enter the U.S. and European markets through online marketing. Besides,
building the company with a new and innovative marketing model; offer selected,


high quality and thoroughly designed products , creating a stable position in the
domestic market; try to access, familiarized itself and beome a trustworthy brand in
the international market in the nearest future.

II.

MARKETING PLAN

1. Market Analysis:
1.1. Sector
Crafts, art and household items made from Vietnam's traditional materials such as
ceramic, porcelain, lacquer, rattan, bamboo, papyrus, wood, stone, silk, horn, ivory,
silver, copper, ... through the skilled hands of the artist in traditional handicraft villages,
became the consumer and export products that bear deep cultural and ethnic value of
Vietnam. In recent years, the handicrafts export market of Vietnam has been increasingly
expanded, aside from major markets such as Germany, France, Korea, Japan ..., the

handicrafts of Vietnam are now present in 163 countries and territories around the world.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the European markets has great
demand for these products; in recent years EU has imported about 7 billion USD and
Vietnam has also gained about 5.4% of that amount. EU will be a promising market for
handicraft product of Vietnam.


1.2. Target customers:
The group of customer which has demand for sourvenir and handicrafts products
in Vietnam is very diverse and comes
sources. However, based

on

the

from many countries, from many

company's targets, on

the

characteristics

of products offered, the potential customers (target) of the company are classified
into the following groups:
-

Vietnamese individuals / organizations who have demand for traditional arts; like
giving gifts to friends, relatives and business partners and require high-quality product

which are sophisticated and not high mass-produced. The price should also be
reasonable with the requirements, design and requested style. With the impressive rate
of economic growth of 7-8% / year(GDP) during the previous decade, the number of
this type of customer is increasing, concentrating mainly in big cities and key
economic regions of the North (Hanoi), the Central (Hue, Da Nang) and the South
(Ho Chi Minh).

-

Vietnamese people who are living abroad: estimated to be 3 million people (half of
which lives in the U.S.) who are looking forward to returning home; they always try
to handicraft products which strongly represents the Asian culture such as
products made from natural material: furniture made from bamboo and rattan, ceramic
trays and plates ... with delicate design which can be used as gifts with high
cultural value. From the

role of

direct

consumer, they can

also

serve

as the recommender, an effective distribution channels of handicrafts to markets
abroad.
-

Foreign tourists: in 2010, the nubmer of tourists coming to Vietnam has reached 5
million, increasing 34.8% compared to 2009 in which the number of visitors coming
from the rich country such as France was 200,000, Australia was 280,000, Japan was
442.00, the U.S. was 430,000 ... (source: VNAT). However, international visitors


coming to Vietnam did not have many choices to spend on shopping, especially on
handicraft products; instead they mainly just watched and photographed.
Some main indicators of the first 5 months of 2011 (increase/decrease) compared to
the same period in 2010
Increase/Decrease
No.

Indicators
Percentage (%)

1.

Value of industrial manufacture

+14,2

2 The total amount of retails and consumer service revenue

+22,5

3 Total export value

+32,8

4 Total import value

+29,7

5 Foreigner tourists coming to Vietnam

+18,0

6 Implemented investment of government budget compared to
yearly plan
7 Average Consumer Price Index for the first five months of 2011
compared to the same period in 2010

39,0

+15,09

(Source: The statistics office)
Looking at the figures we can see that the total export value and the number of
international visitors coming to Vietnam continue to increase (+); it shows that the market
to develop the sale and export of handicraft products is promising a lot of potential for
GH to penetrate and develop its marketing plan, especially online marketing plan.
Competitors


1.2.1.

Domestic:

The rattan – bamboo products manufacturing company Handcraf

Thị trường chính là Châu Âu, Mỹ. Doanh thu hàng năm hơn 30 tỷ đồng.
Strengths

Weaknesses

 Able to take advantage of the local  The workers still mainly work based
labor resource with more than 20000

on self experience, therefore the

workers

skills are underdeveloped

 Was established in a traditional
handicraft village.
Able to take advantage of the
support of capital and land from the
local government

 Having difficulty about investment
capital to expand production and
train employees.
 Production technology hasn’t been
invested appropriately
 Local material can only meet 20%
of the demand, unstable and costly
supply source
 The design and diversification of the
products haven’t been given enough

attention


1.2.2.

International:

China is the country which has the biggest market share of exporting bamboorattan products in the competing markets with Vietnamese companies such as USA,
EU, Japan… Generally, Chinese companies have the following notable
characteristics:
Strengths

Weaknesses

 Abundant and low cost human
resource

 Inconsistent product quality, there are
still many fake products

 Large territory with many material
areas
 Highly

developed

technology

environment, have already applied
modern

technology

in

many

production steps.
 Competitive prices.
 Broad distribution channels in many
countries
 There are a lot of big corporation with
strong economic resources such as:
Hengyang Da Wei Bamboo Product
Co.Ltd, Xiamen PEKE Co.Ltd…
Besides, there are showrooms at the handicraft villages which belong to the
manufacturing factory; they always cooperate with other travel companies to sell
products to the tourists visiting villages.


1.3. Factors of policies, regulations, environment and technology:
With the economy slowly integrated to WTO, the policies and regulations are all
supportive towards the development of handicraft villages and the company specializing
in manufacturing and exporting handicraft products since it helps to create jobs for
people as well as contribute to the development of the economy and promote the image
of the traditional culture of Vietnam to the world. On the other hand, the exploitation of
raw materials to produce and process the handicrafts should follow the regulations about
exploitation of precious resources (precious wood, metals ...), as well as habitat and
ecology protection.
1.4. SWOT Analysis

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES


 Well-trained employees with knowledge,  The
devotion

and

commitment

for

the

company

material for processing and outsourcing,
diversified product types and designs
meet

the

requirements

of

customers in strict country such as

Germany

is

in

danger

of

depletion. This situation occurs for
most types of products. Bad and

 The company directly selects the input

which

material

and

Japan.

unstable supply of rattan, bamboo ... ,
the source of precious wood become
more and more scarce due to forests
being cut down by people. This fact
has greatly impacted the cost, price
and competitiveness of Vietnamese
products

to

products

of

other

countries.
 The demand of foreign tourists for
handicraft

is

very

diverse

and

seasonally changing. The life cycle of
a product is very short; therefore it
requires the company to be very
flexible to be able to meet those
requirements.
OPPORTUNITIES

CHALLENGES

 The demand of foreign tourists for  Diversify the business scope, broaden
handicraft is very diverse and seasonally

the online businees in order to meet

changing. The life cycle of a product is

the demand of foreign customers who

very short; therefore it requires the

don’t have time to really learn about

company to be very flexible to be able to

Vietnam or wish to know more about

meet those requirements.

the traditional products which carry

 The number of visitors visiting and

the cultural traits of Vietnam.
 The challenge of accessibility to new

coming to Vietnam is increasing
 The number of living abroad Vietnamese

modern technology

return to develop and contribute for the  The challenges for the employees
country is also increasing

(need knowledge and experience

 The ability to access, to learn the modern
technology in the world will help the
company to promote its position and
develop the products design competence.
 In order to save time, cost, and to satisfy

about law and regulations, good
language ability, good negotiation
skills…

ability

to get used to

information technology (IT) and use
the supporting tools such as facebook,
blog 360o, website… as well as the

are

ability to design the products quickly

increasing the demand for trading, selling

along with the new trends of the

and buying through Online Store (Shopa

world

the

on

selection

Internet),

demand.

or

the

People

websites

of

introducing and selling products.
1.5. Positioning, Market penetration plan:
The company identifies its goals as followed:

 Improve the competitive advantage to
other domestic companies.


-

The company will focus to improve the quality of products in order to make it able
for handicraft products to enter the U.S. and European market through online
marketing besides building the company with a new and innovative marketing
model, offer selected, high quality and well-designed products, maintain a stable
position in the domestic market, access, familiarize and become a trustworthy
brand in the international market in the nearest future.

-

Target customers are the target customer groups analyzed in section 1.2., focus on
customers who have not / can not directly contact with the handicraft villages of
Vietnam.

2. Product research & development:
In reality, travelers are all interested in buying some souvenir to memorize the trip.
Foreign tourists are also quite interested in the handicraft products of Vietnam. However,
many tourists coming to the craft store in Hanoi mainly just for seeing. The souvenirs for
visitors of the Hanoi market can be divided into two types: to be used and to be
displayed. In the first group – products to be used, the quality and the style are the most
important. The embroidered bags or silk shirts are good examples. Mrs. Jenifer, an
American tourist said: 'I love the silk products, but the design is too poor. Compared to a
few years ago, there’s nothing new '. Moreover, these handicraft products can’t last long
and look clearly deteriorated just after a short period due to being worn out and broken.

The T-shirts with the flag of Vietnam, or the words 'I love Pho' ... have very low quality.
As for handicrafts to be displayed, visitors can pass the money factor to buy beautiful
products. However many items still make people disappointed. Japanese customers
normally prefer lacquer products. However, lacquer items now are mainly made with ...
Japanese lacquers, so many Japanese tourists refuse such items.


Additionally, the preference of tourists from each country is different. However, due to
the lack of understanding about taste and preference of each customer group, there is no
appropriate product which can make them willing to buy immediately once seeing it '.
One item which is very symbolic of the culture of Vietnam is the wooden figure of girls
wearing conical hats and long dress; this item has been presented in many souvenir shops
but did not sell very well. The reason for it is not because tourists don’t like them, but
because they are quite ... cumbersome. Similarly are the water puppets, very eyecatching, very distinctive for Vietnamese culture, but tourists mostly stop just to ...
photograph. The producers did not think through about the fact that when traveling many
days, tourists have to bring their own belongings and it would be very inconvenient if
they have to carry the bulky and fragile sourvenirs. Thus, it’s hard enough for them to
choose what to buy for themselves, not even mention buying some gifts for friends.
During the launching ceremony of tourism stimulus program in 2010, The Director of
Travelling Bureau (Vietnam Administration of Tourism) Mr. Vu The Binh has reported
the sad figure of poor spending of international tourists: In the total cost of the trip to
Vietnam, tourists spend only about 10 to 15% for shopping. This figure in Thailand
ranged from 50-55%. In addition, the average spending of tourists in Vietnam is lower
than other countries in the region. Among many reasons, there is the cause of the lack of
appeal of souvenir products. (Source: Nhan dan)
Therefore to thoroughly research about product, market and customers’
preferences is very important and can affect the chance of being successful of the
enterprise. Handicraft items can be classified into two groups: (I) Strongly traditional
group (II) Group of products that are mixture of traditional and modern features to create
beautiful yet practical items.

2.1. Marketing plan:
2.1.1.

Design and create the website (Online store):


-

“About the company” part should demonstrate the dedication and commitment at
the high levels of the company, with high quality and dinstinctive products;

-

“About the product” part: clearly show on the website the details of products
according to customer demands (products listed under the list with detailed
images of sizes, materials, safety requirements, climate conditions in order to
preserve...); models designed to suit the aesthetic value and practical value.
Moreover, also introduce the payment method, the ordering cost and delivery of
products according to geographic regions ...

-

Introduce about the culture, characteristics and Asian art, traditions of Vietnamto
customer all around the World.

-

Cooperate with other companies: in supplying raw materials and selling products
through online stores. Apply the 3rd CRM models which is online in order to
improve the efficiency in purchasing raw materials, purchasing input equipment

and coordinate with partners to improve internal operating efficiency.

-

- Interacting with customers: website design should include all the features and
supporting information such as: English translated product information, posting
products on the U.S. ebay.com website and answering any questions of the
customers (can also have the feature of Q&A, survey about customers’ demand
and preference, the data can be arranged in period or overall period); the website
should also have instructions for the customers on how to buy in the most
effective and least risky way, help to solve problems arising during the transaction
and especially the support in terms of payment.

-

- We can see that, selling products in international market through E-marketing
and website has a lot of advantages such as: No cost for renting space, finding the
customers, reducing the cost and human resource at the maximum level. Besides.
E-marketing helps GH to constantly add more new features which the most recent


is auction service: auctioning the products to attract more customers’ attention,
increasing the level of attractiveness, faster selling and gaining more profit. This
feature helps GH to have more choices and increase the profit.

2.1.2.
-

Other activities of marketing, image promoting:

Make the most out of the communication tools, online advertising tools such as
Facebook, Netlog, Twitter, friendster ...: set up the forum to exchange ideas about
the industry, handicraft products in order for the employees to have deep
understanding about the products and the company, share and exchange the
company's image and handicraft products to all customers to save time and costs.

-

Participate in the associations of handicraft villages in Vietnam: through these
activities, update the information of the association on the company's website,
ensure that all the newest information and activities related to the associations to
reach individual clients / groups.

-

Cooperate with travel companies and travel magazines to introduce the products
in magazines and publications related to tourism, arts and culture of Vietnam;
ensure that information can reach all customers such as Heritage magazine of
Vietnam Airlines, Vietnam travel magazine. Besides, cooperate with some online
advertising to create the direct link to the online advertisement of the company.
- Actively seek and participate in trade fairs organized in the country and abroad
to exchange and learn about design, quality and business methods; as well as to
promote the image, handicraft products of Vietnam to the World

-

- Organize the combined tour with tourist companies to introduce the traditional
culture of Vietnam handicraft village.

2.2. Establish an effective and appropriate marketing budget:

Priortize the marketing budget in the phrase of market penetrating, create
connection with partners.
2.3. Marketing efficiency evaluation :
Regularly keeping track of statistical growth of sales revenue along with the costs
for marketing; keep track of customers’ visit of the website and the rate of
successful transaction, also promptly solve the customer’s inquiries.
2.4. Delivery and after-sales customer service:
On time delivery with correct delivery location, ensure that the products reach the
customer in the best state. Especially focus on the after sale customer service after
buying and using the product. Create a database system which contains
customers’ personal information in order to not miss out customers’ special
occasions. Increase the stability and loyalty of the customers towards the
company.

III. CONCLUSIONS:
We can clearly see that, selling products in the domestic as well as in international markets
through online marketing and website has a lot of advantages such as: no cost for renting
space, easily find the customer, reduce the cost at the maximum level and reduce the
number of staff. Besides, E-marketing can help companies to constantly update new
features in order to attract more customers, increase the appealing level, faster sales and
greated profits, reduce the cost of inventory and employees at the maximum level. The
method of E-marketing promises a lot of potentials in introducing and promoting the
image of Vietnam to the world.