Vietnam has a population of 93.4 million, an average age of 29.2 years, and the average GDP economic growth rate in the last 5 years is high at about 5.92%, and GDP per capita is 2,171 USD in 2015.

In the three major cities of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and Da Nang, the GDP growth rate of 2015 shows a high growth of 8.8%, 9.59% and 9.28% respectively. Foreign enterprises including many Japanese companies will consider selling products in these big cities.

With Vietnam’s accession to the WTO, foreign-affiliated companies have been able to establish a sales company on an independent basis since January 1, 2009. However, because of the high personal income tax rate, temporary expenses will be incurred when you dispatch something.

For example, it costs 20 million yen per year to establish a fully functional local corporation. In this case, if gross profit of the business is 20%, it will be calculated that it is necessary to sell 100 million yen to the breakeven point. Depends on the type of industry, setting up a subsidiary company and putting out sales of 100 million yen from the first year seems to be quite difficult.

MAI INTERNATIONAL offers business matching support of distributors (import sales agents) and candidates to the clients who are considering selling merchandise in the Vietnamese market. The advantage of using a distributor is that you can sell products with less expense as compared to establishing your own local distribution channel. Hence it is possible to actually make sales while conducting a so-called Vietnamese market survey.