Here are a few of the ways marketers are paying attention to Vietnam:
- Starbucks will soon open its first coffee shop in Ho Chi Minh City, as part of the Seattle-based company's international expansion strategy.
- Procter & Gamble markets many of its best-known products in Vietnam, including Gillette razors, Pampers disposable diapers and Pantene shampoo--in competition with Unilever and other multinationals.
- E-commerce is growing in Vietnam, including daily deal sites, "Amazon-like" retailers and other online businesses.
- Retailing is an industry undergoing expansion, with a mix of smaller stores and multi-city chain stores competing for shoppers.
- Vietnam has had a thriving tourism business for years, drawing vacationers from Russia and China in particular. Among high-profile visitors, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and friends spent Christmas 2011, in Vietnam.
- HSBC Bank offers full-service banking in Vietnam and, with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, has developed a guide to doing business in the country.
- Danish companies such as Mascot are profiting from B2B and consumer relationships in Vietnam.
- Chevron is developing a gas pipeline project in Vietnam, only one example of the nation's infrastructure improvement initiative involving multinational corporations.
