Importing furniture from China is getting prohibitively expensive.
As a furniture buyer or retailer in the US or Europe, you're likely aware of the ongoing trade war with China.
You might even be in it.
The good news is, Vietnam is the perfect alternative, chosen by the world's largest furniture retailers.
Here's the BIGGEST reason (among many):
✅ There's no tariffs on Vietnamese furniture.
Not from Europe, nor North America, wherever you are.
If you are from the U.S. 🇺🇸
The U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) means Vietnam’s products are now assessed much lower tariffs — dropping from an average of 40 percent to an average of three percent — when they enter the U.S.
Vietnam's strategic location on the Pacific Ocean and developed port infrastructure make exporting to the US similar in cost to exporting from China.
As of today, 4 out of 10 chairs imported by the US are from Vietnam!
If you are from Europe 🇪🇺
The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement eliminates almost 99% of customs duties between the EU and Vietnam.
But how to enter Vietnam?
Because the reality is: shifting your sourcing strategy from one country to another is difficult.
You travel halfway around the world to a brand-new country, setting up new networks.
Most importantly, you need to find a new supplier you can trust with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars of inventory.
A lot is at stake. Your time, your season, your job.
Your reputation as a buyer is also on the line.
Yes, you might have read posts and research focusing on the highly competitive prices and availability of suppliers and manufacturers.
But today, I’ll focus on aspects no one talks about...
...details many buyers and sourcing professionals only discover after their first buying seasons with a new Vietnamese partner.
They only take 3 minutes 20 seconds to read.
But they will save you months of headaches, guaranteed. ⤵️
1️⃣ Our largest national holidays are right at the shipping season
Yes, we have two New Year celebrations.
🧧 Tet, or Lunar New Year, is our biggest holiday, happening in mid-February. It's celebrated in Vietnam and other countries like China, Taiwan.
Workers take a week off, plus a few days in early January for New Year’s.
I'll share our typical timeline below to show how these days off might interfere with the shipping schedule of outdoor furniture (our category).
📆 June/July/August 2024
The buying season for 2025 just started and usually will go on until September/October.
📆 September/October
Orders are finalized because suppliers like us usually need 3 months from finalizing contracts to shipping.
During the 3 months, we would: buy extra material if needed (acacia/eucalyptus), dry wood, manufacture, and then transport products to ports.
📆 December/Jan - Feb 2025
Shipping time 🚢 and Tet Holidays.
Many retailers and wholesalers stock their warehouses with Christmas and other holiday products during end of year, which must be cleared out after Christmas before garden/outdoor furniture can move in.
This means garden furniture typically ships from December/January to March (right around Tet) to be distributed to stores by April and May for the summer season (June - August 2025).
What should you do?
Factor in beyond just these holidays. I suggest thinking about other potential delays in raw materials and logistical issues from your suppliers.
No, if you are a buyer from abroad, there's no reason to worry about issues with materials or logistics in Vietnam.
But these things happen, and that's one day that your products are not being made.
Factor them in. Ask your supplier about them so you both can set a realistic ETA.
Tet is the season people gather at home, but it's also the season my father, our company director, travels the most.
As one of Vietnam's most experienced furniture suppliers, we ensure our delivery times are accurate and keep our clients informed so they always receive their orders on time.
Then, as a family, we can take our time off later, after the products are shipped on time and promptly and our clients are taken care of.
Regardless, Tet is a wonderful time of the year for all Vietnamese, if you are ever in Vietnam during this celebration, I'm sure you will absolutely enjoy it.
2️⃣ Not Everything’s Located in Ho Chi Minh City
When you come to Vietnam, you will most likely land 🛬 and start in Ho Chi Minh City, our largest city, located in the South.
While the largest furniture fairs in Vietnam, like HAWA and VIFA, are in Ho Chi Minh City, most factories are outside the city, particularly in central Vietnam in provinces like Qui Nhon.
Yes, the real (furniture) magic happens outside the city
(and those factories in the photo are where our furniture products are manufactured)
These areas have generations of craftsmanship and a deeply rooted manufacturing ecosystem.
The distance from Ho Chi Minh City to these central provinces is at least 600 kilometers or about 380 miles.
Many industry professionals combine furniture fairs across Southeast Asia in Q1, creating a true "Tour de Furniture 🚴♀️."
If you want to visit factories in Central Vietnam, plan for at least two extra days for round-trip flights.
While Vietnam's central provinces offer incredible craftsmanship, they also have stunning coastlines, rich culture, and mouthwatering street food.
I recommend spending an extra 2-3 days in Vietnam.
You won't regret it.
3️⃣ Manufacturing Capacity is not the same as Shipping Capacity
This applies to all manufacturers from all countries, but it’s important to know.
When a supplier or manufacturer tells you their manufacturing capacity is 50 containers a year, that does not necessarily mean they can ship you 50 containers at once.
There’s a clear distinction between manufacturing capacity and shipping capacity. Some suppliers will ship in partial shipments, for example, 25 containers a month, with a 30-day gap between shipments.
Why?
After the manufacturing process, manufacturers need lots of storage space to store inventory before shipping.
Let’s use our best-seller Birmingham table as an example. We can fit about 345 tables into a 40’HC container.
Hypothetically, if we get an order of 50 containers, that will be 17,250 tables completed all at once and stored in the same facility to be shipped altogether. This requires a tremendous amount of storage space, which can be very costly.
When shipping seasons come, there might be difficulty for buyers to get enough containers. Especially when other larger businesses like Nike are also trying to get their shipments out, using hundreds of containers and leaving few for others.
We always inform our clients about these capabilities and advise them according to the products they are interested in.
Ask your supplier to do the same.
4️⃣ Order DE-Prioritization
You are not the only buyer.
As more buyers shift from China to Vietnam, manufacturers face a higher volume of orders.
While they strive to meet all deadlines, larger or more frequent buyers may receive priority treatment.
This could delay your order if another client's needs are deemed more urgent.
Particularly if you are new or have smaller orders.
That's the cold, hard fact of the industry that no one talks about.
While this may only happen with a small number of manufacturers/suppliers.
It does happen. When it does, it hurts.
You are almost at the finish line, waiting for your inventory that you ordered three months ago, from someone new you thought gave you a great price, lots of smiles, and assurance.
Now you are sitting in your office half the world away, sweating and nervous...
We have heard this same story from multiple clients (about their previous suppliers) when they switched to us.
After having to suddenly cancel previous arrangements at the office and with friends and family to hop on a 15-hour flight to solve a problem that should have never happened in the first place, people get tired.
The two questions you MUST ask your new Vietnamese suppliers are:
“How do you ensure my order does not get deprioritized?”
and
"How do you ensure there are no defects/quality issues?"
You can expect people to give the obvious answer "No that will never happen with us."
Ask again. Because when it does, it will be too late, and your stores might not have products to sell.
✅ Do more due diligence than you think you should. Select proven suppliers with many years of operation, not those who give you the lowest quotes.
Pay cheap, pay twice.
🚙 Visit the suppliers at their offices and/or factories to assess their capabilities.
📆 Make sure you check in often. As delivery date gets closer, if you can visit, great, if not, ask for proof of progress, photos, videos.
Many issues might not be revealed until the last minute.
Or until you ask.
At my family business Dai Phuc Hung Thinh Furniture, we contract partner factories to manufacture products for us.
We have worked with these trusted factories every year for 21 years.
Internally, we've developed a robust system to prevent any issues.
Despite our office being in Ho Chi Minh City, we have our employees work full-time at all partner factories to ensure top-notch product quality and timely delivery.
My co-workers are at the factory, monitoring, every, single, day.
Having partnered with these factories for over two decades, we maintain a high level of responsiveness and relationships. If issues arise, our company director, my father, will personally fly out and address any concerns within 24 hours.
This commitment to quality and service saves our clients from making the arduous trip around the world and dealing with problems.
While they could have stayed home, working, spending time with their family.
This commitment saves our clients from defects they might only find out when the containers get to their warehouse.
This commitment to quality and service keeps the world's top furniture retailers returning to us year after year.
and we would like to extend it to you!
As one of Vietnam's most experienced furniture suppliers, we are proud to supply some of the largest and most respected retailers across Europe, including those in Denmark, Germany, and Poland, with not only the best outdoor furniture Vietnam has to offer, but also with our experience and insights.
Just send us a message at sales@daiphuchungthinh.com.vn!