The European market has a size of up to 450 million consumers, with very high and increasingly high demands on the quality of goods.
The private economic sector currently accounts for 25% of total export turnover . Amid fierce competition in the world market, many private enterprises have been proactive in innovating their strong products and continuously improving standards and regulations.
As for the European market , last year we exported more than 51 billion USD to the European Union countries, an increase of more than 18% compared to the previous year. This market has a scale of up to 450 million consumers, with very high and increasingly high demands on the quality of goods. To export goods to Europe, regularly and for a long time, is not an easy task.
At the restaurant and hotel fair, there was a booth introducing straws made from Vietnamese vegetables and fruits. From vegetables, so they can be eaten, broken and fried to make them crispy. To enter the German market, the product must of course comply with European standards and sometimes must meet the individual requirements of each customer.
Mr. Duong Tuan Anh – Director of DT Handel & Consulting Company said: “I negotiated with a very large partner, a chain of about 65 hamburger stores in Germany, Hans Im Glück. Actually, it took us from 8 months to 10 months to negotiate. Because it involves standards for straws as a part, and standards related to packaging, transportation and barcodes of everything, in general, a lot of things”.
When dealing with European customers, a contract is a contract, and there is little room for leniency. And mistakes can happen at many stages. So every stage in the supply chain must be meticulously considered, so that the product delivered to the customer is exactly like the sample.
Mr. Duong Tuan Anh – Director of DT Handel & Consulting Company added: “One of the first problems is related to the uneven quality of products. For example, we lost a customer who was supposed to buy 20,000 straws from us per month. Because the straws were originally marked as 15 cm, but by the time they were produced and dried, they had shrunk to 14.5 cm and we lost the contract.”
And there are unexpected incidents that are no one’s fault but still end up being a failure. A French company specializing in food containers recounts an incident that happened a few years ago.
Mr. Michael Merran – General Director of Firplast Company commented: “We import beverage cups made from corn starch, which are quite sensitive to temperature. When transporting from Asia to France, the container was accidentally placed on the top row. A month at sea means a month of exposure to the sun, the temperature in the container sometimes reaches 40 degrees Celsius. When arriving in France, the lid of the box was deformed and distorted. We had to destroy it all.”
There are also mistakes due to not knowing that standards have changed, consumer needs have changed. Businesses spend a lot of money when participating in trade fairs because it is the easiest place to understand market trends, in addition to connecting with customers and suppliers.
Europe is a very important market for export manufacturing enterprises. However, considering that, any market is now very important to enterprises. Global trade is in a period of constant and unpredictable fluctuations. Doing well and being careful with every market, even the smallest one, to be able to diversify different markets, not depending on any one market is a mandatory requirement today.