This is also a group of products with high-profit margins. According to statistics from the Vietnam Handicraft Exporters Association, for every 1 million USD of exports, this industry brings about 5 to 10 times more profit than other industries. In addition, the handicraft villages across the country are creating jobs for millions of workers, contributing to ensuring social security.
The Vietnam Association of Craft Villages said that many years ago, our country's handicrafts were favoured by foreign markets.
However, the attractiveness is significantly reduced as there is no change in the model, while the needs of customers are increasingly enhanced. This is currently one of the biggest barriers on the way to maintain and expand the market of Vietnamese handicrafts.
Currently, up to 90% of Vietnam's handicraft products are based on designs of foreign customers and using customers' labels, due to our lack of creativity in product design.
At fairs and exhibitions about domestic handicrafts, it is difficult for people to avoid feeling bored when encountering stalls with familiar products.
The cause of this situation is that many craft village production households still do not attach importance to the design and improvement of designs, only producing according to old habits, slow to innovate and following the models available on the market.
The vocational training process is not focused on creativity and applicability to meet requirements. The design team of handicrafts has many limitations, most of which are only made to order. Some designs are aesthetically pleasing and feasible in the manufacturing process, but cannot be produced in large quantities, so it is difficult to export.
"Beauty is only skin deep", but when competitors' products are of equal quality and competitive price, the design is the deciding factor.
Therefore, people who make handicrafts need to change their thinking about design, and packaging, and especially, there must be a clear distinction between product quality and design quality to increase value for products.
To have beautiful designs that suit customers' tastes, designers and manufacturers need to work more closely together. Businesses and artisans should enter into joint ventures with fine art training institutions, and regularly organise training for the creative team, so that the designs meet the right criteria and requirements.
In addition, it is necessary to organise more design contests for handicrafts, to choose designs with high applicability and fine art for mass production. Vietnamese handicraft products need worthy attention to stand firmly in the market, reaching out to the world.
