Tran Viet Tien, a leader of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA), said: “With lots of new designs and models for their products, many local furniture firms still cannot find orders due to the current epidemic.”

Vietnamese furniture store on the online commercial platform Amazon.

Dzung Nguyen, CEO of HMD Information Technology, a member of California-based Yes4All firm said: “Vietnamese furniture shipments will be available on Yes4all’s sale channels in May at the latest."

The CEO, who said Yes4All is active on Amazon and Ebay, declared that such shipments result from a long journey of negotiation and preparation between Yes4all and NCT, a local furniture brand specialising in exporting to European markets.

With more than 10 years of experience in selling sporting goods online, Yes4All saw an opportunity in selling Southeast Asian furniture products to US customers.

The CEO said: "Like kitchen utensils, furniture items can be sold online,” adding it was time for furniture firms to join online distribution channels.

Dzung said furniture chains has begun to list products on e-commerce sites like Etsy, Amazon and Wayfair.

As a result, Dung said: "Going O2O (online to offline) will be the fastest way to adapt to current fluctuations."

O2O was a retail business model that combines both online marketing and introduction of products to attract customers to buy them at the stores (offline).

According to the experts, IKEA's "interior tycoon" is a good example of the O2O model when it has applied virtual reality to the sale of furniture products.

Wood chips are Vietnam’s main export products to China, with a turnover of more than 972 million USD in 2019, or 79.2 percent of total export turnover of wood and timber products. Meanwhile, Vietnam imported wooden planks worth 400 million USD.

The Government has set a target of 20 billion USD in wood exports by 2025 – nearly double the current turnover. To achieve this goal, it will require fundamental changes in both business strategies in each enterprise and the development strategy of the whole industry.

The industry meanwhile is also calling on the Government’s support in institutional and policy environment to create the most favourable conditions for their business activities. In addition, the Government also needs to create a channel to promote Vietnam’s clean wood and timber brand.

Vietnam's wood and forestry exports expected to reach 12.5 bil in 2020

In 2019, Vietnam wood and forestry exports reach a new height of 11.2 billion USD, up 19.2% compared to 2018. The sector aims to earn 12.5 billion USD from exports in 2020.

Wooden block exhibition on Vietnam’s names and capitals held

An exhibition featuring names and capitals of Vietnam carved on wooden printing blocks of the Nguyen dynasty opened at Da Lat University, Da Lat City, on December 18.

Painter creates unique harmony between Ao Dai and wood-carved paintings

With nearly 20 years following her arts career, female Tay ethnic painter Vi Viet Nga has found her own way in working in wood-carved paintings and Ao Dai (Vietnamese traditional long dress).

Wood and wood product exports exceed 1 billion USD in October

Vietnam raked in more than 1 billion USD from wood and wood product exports in October, up 22.7 percent year-on-year, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

Yellow brilliance as Hollywood star shines in Cong Tri outfit

British-American star Sienna Miller chose a marigold yellow gown designed by Cong Tri to attend the 2019 Hollywood Film Awards.

Source: VNS/VNA