VietNamNet Bridge - Wal-Mart plans to buy $24 billion worth of goods all over the globe from supply companies owned by businesswomen.

 

Wal-Mart plans to buy $24 billion worth of goods all over the globe from supply companies owned by businesswomen.

Although Walmart still hasn't planned to open a retail chain in Vietnam, it has opened a representative office to look for suppliers in Vietnam.

Cuu Long An Giang, a catfish export company owned by Tran Thi Van Loan, met big difficulties in 2004, when loyal markets shrank.

“We felt there was no remedy for us. But we decided not to sit and wait for death, but tried to look for orders from unfamiliar markets, including Africa, South America and Asia,” she said.

And Cuu Long An Giang finally got an order from Mexico, which brought the company the opportunity to penetrate the Wal-Mart chain in the country. 

Loan then decided to make heavy investment to improve its production scale and since then, it has been supplying catfish products to Wal-Mart Mexico, as the US-based retail chain did not collect products directly from Vietnam.

Only in 2014 could Cuu Long An Giang begin supplying products directly to the US after undergoing tests in workshops, finance situation, supply chain security and social responsibilities.

Before becoming a supplier to Wal-Mart eight years ago, Thuan Phuong Garment and Embroidery Company mostly did outsourcing for South Korean companies. However, the managers of Thuan Phuong decided to stop outsourcing and to export products under its name.

About 200 Vietnamese businesses are capable of selling products to Wal-Mart.

In 2008, Thuan Phuong’s representative came to Wal-Mart’s office in China for negotiations, after which it joined Wal-Mart chain. 

Thuan Phuong fulfilled the order for 200,000 products in the first year. However, the orders have become bigger: it now supplies 3-5 million products a year, while planning  two more factories in Long An province to satisfy increasingly high demand.

Nguyen Hoai Anh, deputy general director of Thuan Phuong, said it was not easy to be a partner of Wal-Mart. The company had to make market survey thoroughly and build a closed production chain from designing to trimming with production scale large enough to satisfy requirements set by a big retailer.

Jocelyn Tran from Walmart Global Sourcing said the retail chain would prioritize to buy products from the businesses owned by women, or ones where female workers are the majority.

Explaining this, Kara Valikai from Wal-Mart said the majority of buyers at Wal-Mart were women.

She went on to say that about 200 Vietnamese businesses are capable of selling products to Wal-Mart. The retailer is now seeking suppliers of garment, footwear, seafood, fine arts and children’s toys. Meanwhile, the businesses are mostly owned by businesswomen.


NCDT