Several Vietnamese goods have gained a firm foothold in the domestic market with 70 percent of Vietnamese consumers putting their trust in local goods.

Le Viet Nga, Deputy Head of the Domestic Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, made this observation at a conference to review five years of the "Vietnamese people use Vietnamese goods" campaign, held in Hanoi on July 3.

Statistics from the ministry showed that 80 percent of Vietnamese people were keen on garments, textile and shoes while 58 percent were keen on food items and fruit.

In several supermarkets run by domestic enterprises, locally made products accounted for 80 to 90 percent of the total. More than 90 percent of goods at over 9,000 price stabilisation shops were domestic products.

"These results have helped domestic goods increase competitiveness over foreign items and changed consumers' thoughts and habits," she said.

A recent survey of the ministry also revealed that the localisation rate of input products and materials as well as equipment rose 25 percent since the campaign was launched.

Businesses have taken advantage of the Government's mechanism and policies to build strong distribution networks, she said.

For example, Vietnam Garment and Textile Group (Vinatex) had established 4,125 shops in remote and mountainous areas. The Vietnam Paper Corporation has also been active in expanding selling points in rural and mountainous areas.

She said in rural areas, people were keen on locally produced goods.

The ministry had also approved 618 plans, with total investment of 375.7 billion VND (17.8 million USD) for commercial promotion and market expansion activities for five years of the campaign's implementation.

Of these, 356 plans focused on the domestic market, remote and border areas with funds of 167.7 billion VND. The plans were mainly organised to bring Vietnamese goods to these areas.

Over the past five years, the provincial Industry and Trade Department has held around 2,000 sale campaigns in the rural regions with participation from 53,000 businesses with 48,000 booths. More than three million locals visited the booths with a turnover of 34.4 trillion VND.

Deputy Minister Ho Thi Kim Thoa hailed the achievements of the five-year campaign, saying that it had made a positive impact.

Thoa said the local people's awareness of Vietnamese goods has changed sharply and people have begun to pay more attention to local items.

The wholesale turnover growth rate in the past five years was in double digits, she added.

However, she said the campaign had also revealed shortcomings in building and developing the distribution networks. She said several enterprises have not built a basic strategy for building a brand name.

In addition, some businesses lacked the experience and selling skills to promote the sale of Vietnamese goods, she added.

She said the ministry would pay more attention to increasing people's awareness for using Vietnamese goods.-VNA