Strategies for building and developing Vietnamese brands in the UK market

The UK is always an ideal market for Vietnamese investors. However, is the current branding and development strategy of Vietnamese enterprises really suitable for this difficult market?

According to the National Brand 2020 report by brand valuation firm Brand Finance, Vietnam is emerging as a new manufacturing "Paradise" in Southeast Asia and has the strongest increase in national brand value in the world with 29%, up to 319 billion USD, especially after the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UKVFTA).

Import and export turnover between Vietnam and the UK has made a spectacular breakthrough

According to statistics of the General Department of Customs, only in January 2021, the total import and export turnover of Vietnam - UK increased by 78.57% and reached US$657.35 million. Notably, Vietnam's export turnover to the UK reached 598.07 million USD, an increase of 84.61% compared to January 2020 and 56.51% compared to December 2020.

This is a really impressive growth in the context of economies being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the UK economy after Brexit. This positive signal shows that the UK-Vietnam Trade Agreement UKVFTA promises to continue to create economic and trade leverages between the two countries.

Vietnam's export turnover to the UK has grown impressively after UKVFTA

Challenges of Vietnamese businesses when registering trademarks in the UK

Mr. Bui Duc Tue, Managing Director of One IBC^®, a trademark registration service provider in the UK, shared that many businesses are trying to bring Vietnamese brands to the UK market but encounter some certain barriers and challenges.

Vietnam's rice exports to the UK in 2020 increased spectacularly by 116% from 1,296 tons (about $1,295,000) to 3,396 tons ($2,670,000) compared to last year. However, the market share of Vietnamese-branded rice in the UK accounted for only 0.43% in 2019 and 0.45% in 2020. Mr. Nguyen Canh Cuong, Vietnam Trade Office in the UK, said that most of Vietnam's rice products Vietnam are under the brand of the British distributor but not the manufacturer's brand, or recently, ST25 Vietnam rice, although won the award as the best rice in the world in 2019, is known by very few British people.

The strategy of building and developing Vietnamese brands abroad is always full of challenges

Explaining this problem, One IBC^® Vietnam believes that in a competitive environment that is more favorable to local importers than foreign exporters such as the UK, Vietnamese exporters are often willing to allow importers to import goods. distribute using their own brands.

Registering your trademark to expand internationally

In order for Vietnamese businesses to assert their position in one of the most difficult markets in the world like the UK, we need to implement a highly practical brand building and development strategy. The first and most important step of a branding strategy is to register for trademark protection abroad for your own business.

One IBC^® is always ready to support and advise on brand protection for Vietnamese businesses

One IBC^® has affirmed that, in order to create the foundation for Vietnamese enterprises to reach out in the world economy, the registration of trademark is the core solution. The UK is a potential market economy, but businesses themselves still have to create legal barriers for their brands. In fact, there have been cases of domestic enterprises losing their trademarks in the international market, One IBC^® believes that the main problem is the lack of information about international law as well as the benefits of trademark registration. brand.

With only 4 steps of trademark registration in the UK with One IBC^®, businesses can both affirm the value of their businesses and protect their brands against infringements from competitors. Contact us today to register your business trademark.