Case Studies
Our case studies cover some of the products our Asia Import Platform customers have developed in recent years.
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Planning to import furniture from suppliers in Vietnam? In this article, you can learn what importers must know about Vietnamese furniture and homeware factories:
Vietnam is one of the largest manufacturing and exporting countries for furniture. You can find suppliers for a wide range of furniture, including:
Disclaimer
We are not affiliated with any of the companies listed in this guide. We have selected these companies based on their claimed product scope, history, certification, and capabilities.
Continue reading List of Furniture Manufacturers in Vietnam: 10 Leading Factories
Suggestion: Watch the 10 minutes video tutorial before reading this article
Vietnam is arguably the fastest-growing manufacturing and export country in Southeast Asia. Further, the country opened up in early 2022 which makes it easier to work directly with Vietnamese manufacturers compared to those in China.
Given that the trade war between the US and China is still ongoing, Vietnam is also an interesting sourcing country for the sake of cutting costs. That being said, sourcing suppliers in Vietnam is often a bit more complex than what you may be used to in China – which is what I cover in this guide.
Content Overview
Below follows an overview of the categories in which Vietnam offers a relatively large number of suppliers.
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The apparel and textile industry is well-established in Vietnam. In fact, most of our customers currently sourcing products in Vietnam, are in the apparel and textile industry.
Apparel manufacturers tend to have relatively wide product scopes. However, these are some of the more common products found in Vietnam:
Vietnamese textile suppliers are generally OEM manufacturers, meaning that they make products according to tech packs provided by their customers.
Vietnam is one of Asia’s largest furniture manufacturers. Mainly located in the southern parts of the country, Vietnamese furniture manufacturers are often focused on the following categories:
Many Vietnamese furniture and houseware factories have a basic selection of ODM products. That said, most rely on OEM designs provided by their customers.
Vietnam has a long tradition of handcrafting everything from baskets and wooden figurines, to clay pots and miniature ships.
Many Vietnamese handicraft suppliers are relatively small and can be found on either Alibaba.com – or one of the many trade shows in the country.
As of today, Vietnam’s electronics manufacturing base is not nearly as strong as Guangdong province, in southern China.
Further, many of the electrical components are imported from China, further eroding its potential as a manufacturing hub for electronics.
That said, it’s getting there, and electronics is making up a big share of the exports that go through Vietnam’s main ports.
Many exporters are foreign own (i.e., Samsung), and the local owned tend to be OEM manufacturers. I would still not expect them to be as open-minded and accustomed to working with small buyers, as those in Shenzhen and Guangzhou in China.
But, given a few more years, I believe that Vietnamese OEM electronics manufacturers could become interesting for startups and small businesses.
The electronics industry is crucial, as it tends to spawn subcontractors for other industries, such as watches, jewelry, and even children’s products.
The selection of jewelry and accessories manufacturers in Vietnam is relatively small. That said, there are a number of manufacturers using locally made materials – creating jewelry styles that are hard to find elsewhere in Asia.
A few examples follow:
Looking to import toys and other children’s products from Asia? Then Vietnam can offer products you can’t really find elsewhere.
At least when it comes to certain types and materials:
Remember that you need to ensure compliance with all applicable children’s products safety standards, in your market. If you’re based in the EU, you need to ensure compliance with the Toy Safety Directive. In the US, CPSIA is mandatory.
Vietnam has a large plastics and construction materials industry. Many of these manufacturers function as subcontractors, to toy and electronics manufacturers.
However, more and more of these factories are developing their own ODM products and taking on OEM orders from customers around the world.
A few examples follow:
Perhaps I shouldn’t have put this one at the bottom, because the printing and packaging industry in Vietnam is huge. Vietnam is probably the world leader for high-quality (and competitively priced) product packaging, making bags, inlays, cartons, jewelry boxes, watch boxes, and much more.
Many packaging companies that first got established in China, have opened offices in Vietnam.
Some of Asia’s leading print and packaging trade shows are also held annually in Vietnam.
ODM products, or private label products, are essentially factory-designed products for which tooling already exists. This has a major advantage in that you don’t need to develop new prototypes and pay for new molds – which can take months and cost thousands of dollars.
Many of the products you see on Alibaba.com and Globalsources.com are ODM products.
That said, Vietnamese suppliers (in most industries) don’t have a catalog of ODM products from which you can order. ODM products tend to come at a later stage, often hand in hand with manufacturers creating their own brands.
This has a major impact on the sourcing strategy you can apply. While in China, you can often find ODM products for all sorts of niche items – while Vietnamese factories tend to require that you provide a technical specification.
The dropshipping model is relatively concentrated in China. We have not been able to locate any dropshipping supplier in Vietnam.
This is related to the previous question, as dropshipping requires an extensive supply of ODM products for the dropshippers to sell.
Anything can technically be manufactured in Vietnam, as long as you can either find a factory willing to produce your product – or set up a factory yourself. The challenge is that Vietnamese factories tend to be rather OEM-focused.
What this means in practice is that you will struggle to find ready-made Bluetooth speakers, but you can find a factory that can produce that speaker if you have a technical specification and pay for the tooling needed.
This can be confusing for those who are used to Alibaba sourcing in China where you can find thousands of ODM options for many products.
In fact, Vietnamese factories have been in high demand in recent years. Naturally, this has made some of them pickier with buyers. This has forced some companies to set up their own factories in Vietnam.
This also extends to materials, which are not always readily available in Vietnam. This means that you may need to procure materials outside of Vietnam and arrange for importation to the country through your supplier.
One of our manufacturing projects in Vietnam involved a certain type of stainless steel and PVC coating from Europe. In China, we could source the materials domestically because the material suppliers had wholesalers in China.
In Vietnam, they didn’t, which meant that we had to arrange the importation of the materials from the nearest location – Singapore. This is not a problem in itself, but you need to be prepared to roll up your sleeves and work with your supplier to find solutions to manufacturing problems.
As said, Vietnamese suppliers have reasons to prioritize buyers of a certain level. When sourcing in Vietnam, it’s therefore very important that you:
We look for the same things that we do in all countries. While it varies based on the industry, here are some factors we take into consideration:
It’s not always a given that you can find Vietnamese suppliers on Alibaba.com and Globalsources.com. Even if you do, you likely want to go beyond what you can find there.
In my opinion, you don’t really need sourcing agents when searching for suppliers in China these days. Vietnam is a different story though.
Many Vietnamese manufacturers don’t have websites. Vietnam-based sourcing agents can add a lot of value based on their supplier network alone. More than that, they also add value because they can identify material suppliers – which is often a challenge as I mentioned previously.
You can find a list of sourcing agents on this page.
Planning to import products from Vietnam but not sure what kind of products are manufactured in the country? In this guide, we list some of the top imports from Vietnam to the United States, Europe, Asia, and many other countries. This includes textiles, electronics, machinery, furniture, and more.
Main Sources
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Looking for manufacturers in Vietnam? In this guide, we give you a high-level overview of what to expect when manufacturing products in Vietnam – and how the country compares to China on many aspects, such as pricing, MOQ, lead times, and more.
Overview
Vietnam closed its borders in early 2020 as the COVID pandemic was taking hold all over the world. However, the country remained open internally which allowed its manufacturers to continue operating as usual. Continue reading Manufacturers & Wholesalers in Vietnam: A Complete Guide
Vietnam is quickly becoming a serious manufacturing alternative to China, especially for American importers caught in between the US-China trade war. That said, Vietnamese suppliers are not as easy to find on Alibaba.com or Globalsources.com.
As such, many importers turn to Vietnam-based sourcing companies, with local knowledge and supplier networks. In this article, we list some of Vietnam’s leading sourcing agencies, most of which are located in Asia’s fastest-growing manufacturing hub – Ho Chi Minh City.
Listed Companies
Continue reading List of Sourcing Companies in Vietnam: Our Top 13 Picks
Looking for qualified shoes and footwear suppliers in Vietnam? In this article, we list some of Vietnam’s leading manufacturers, while also explaining what brands must know about the following:
Small importers tend to assume that manufacturers operate as design houses, developing their own yearly collections – for others to buy at factory prices, and resell with big profit margins. Continue reading List of Shoes & Footwear Manufacturers in Vietnam
Exploring your options to shift production from China to Vietnam? You might find that your existing freight forwarder network doesn’t even operate in the latter. To make things a bit easier for you, we’ve compiled a list of shipping companies based in Vietnam. In addition, we also cover the following:
Continue reading List of Shipping Companies in Vietnam: Top 13 Forwarders
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Looking for clothing and textile manufacturers or wholesalers in Vietnam? In this article, we list some of Vietnam’s leading garment suppliers covering a wide range of products. While some of the listed suppliers primarily work with large brands, we also list a few small-buyer-friendly options.
In addition, we also explain how to find other textiles suppliers online, relevant trade shows, how to manage garment design, sampling, production and much more.
1. Preparing a techpack
2. How to order samples
3. MOQ requirements
4. Quality checks
5. Lab testing Continue reading Clothing & Textiles Manufacturers in Vietnam: A Complete Guide
Looking for the right underwear or lingerie manufacturer in Vietnam? In this guide, we list Vietnam-based undergarments suppliers offering both custom-designed and private label production.
Each company profile covers main products, certification, social compliance, factory location, and general capabilities.
Listed Companies
We are not affiliated with any of the companies listed in this guide. We have selected these companies based on their claimed product scope, history, certification, and capabilities. Continue reading List of Underwear Manufacturers in Vietnam: Our Top 10 Picks
Planning to import socks from Vietnam but still looking for the right factory? In this guide, we list 7 leading sock manufacturers offering both private label socks and custom design manufacturing. These suppliers produce a wide range of products, including sports socks, pantyhose socks, crew socks, and much more.
Each company profile includes main products, company certificates, capabilities, and factory location.
Listed Companies
We are not affiliated with any of the companies listed in this guide. We have selected these companies based on their claimed product scope, history, certification, and capabilities. Continue reading List of Sock Manufacturers in Vietnam: Our Top 7 Picks