5 brands you can not find on Shopee or TikTokShop

In recent years, e-commerce has become an indispensable part of the Vietnamese retail market. With the strong development of trading platforms such as Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop, online shopping has become easier and more convenient than ever. It seems that you can find many brands from large to small, from businesses to retail stores present on these exchanges.

However, in a context where Vietnamese consumers are gradually forming shopping habits on e-commerce platforms, sometimes you will suddenly see some big brands still choosing to use only their own websites without opening any stores on busy e-commerce platforms.

Have you ever thought about what is behind these decisions and whether it brings them any benefit?

Brands do not use Marketplaces

Some international and domestic brands have chosen not to open official stores on platforms such as Shopee, Lazada, or TikTok Shop in Vietnam. Typical:

• Nike: As a global icon in the sports fashion industry, Nike is famous for its diverse product lines from shoes, clothing to accessories. In Vietnam, Nike focuses on developing through its official website and retail stores, maintaining quality and brand image through direct control of the distribution process.

• Zara: This Spanish fashion brand is famous for quickly updating trends and unique design styles. Zara chose not to participate in e-commerce platforms in Vietnam to ensure exclusivity in product distribution and maintain a high-end brand image.

• Uniqlo: With the philosophy of "LifeWear" - clothing for everyday life, Uniqlo from Japan has won the hearts of consumers with its simplicity, quality and affordable prices. Not selling on e-commerce platforms helps Uniqlo maintain its unique shopping experience and strictly manage product quality.

• Lyn VN: Lyn fashion brand, originating from Vietnam, has made a strong mark in the high-end fashion segment. Lyn VN not only stands out with its sophisticated and luxurious design but also in controlling distribution channels, not participating in e-commerce platforms to maintain the uniqueness and value of the brand.

• Adidas: The case of Adidas in Vietnam is more special when this company is present on e-commerce platforms but only with outlets or traditional models. New collections and special products are usually only distributed through the official website or retail stores. This helps Adidas maintain exclusivity for new products and maintain its brand value.

Reasons behind decisions

1. Control brand images

Controlling brand image is one of the main reasons why big brands do not participate in e-commerce platforms. This is not just a matter of image and message control, but also about providing a unique and consistent shopping experience for customers.

When selling on their own website, brands can design every aspect from the interface, product presentation, to customer interaction, to ensure the shopping experience reflects the true value and positioning of the brand. On the contrary, on e-commerce platforms, this ability is limited because brands must comply with the interface and general regulations of the platform.

When looking at the websites of big fashion brands like Zara and Uniqlo, we will see that they use many filters to search for products such as searching by color, size, price,... and category. Their products are also shown in great detail on the website. Because these brands provide an extremely diverse product portfolio from designs to colors, they need to optimize a lot to make customers' search more convenient, something that e-commerce platforms death is difficult to respond to.

Marketplaces provide a uniform design for all brands on the platform and often offer limited tools and resources for content creation. This makes it difficult for brands to express their own brand and almost blend in with other brands.

When brands control this experience, they can optimize the delivery of their messages, core values, and build long-term relationships with customers, thereby enhancing brand value and loyalty. customer's status.

2. Protect product value

For luxury brands, maintaining product value and positioning is extremely important. On e-commerce platforms, products often have to compete on price with a series of other brands and suppliers, which can lead to product price reductions and loss of special value that the brand wants to preserve.

In a market like Vietnam, where price competition on e-commerce platforms is quite high, maintaining product value through separate distribution channels is extremely important.

If we pay attention, we will see that high-end fashion brands such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci do not sell products on e-commerce platforms nor allow third parties to distribute to maintain exclusivity and keep the high value of their products. Selling directly through the company's official store or website helps them control prices and avoid unfair competition from sellers or even counterfeiters.

Imagine if one day, these high-end products suddenly appeared on e-commerce platforms with a series of discount vouchers, what would consumers think at that time and would they still feel the value of these products?

Protect product value not only in terms of price but also in quality and brand image in the minds of consumers. When customers know that they cannot find this product on e-commerce platforms at a cheaper price, they will feel the true value of that product.

In addition, if these brands operate on e-commerce platforms, they will have to pay an average fee of about 8-12% of the order value. Suppose the bag is worth 50 million VND, so they had to pay for each marketplace up to 5 million VND in fees to sell that bag. This is also one of the reasons that famous brands do not participate in e-commerce platforms.

3. Be proactive in brand policies

Big brands often want to retain complete control over their sales and marketing policies. This is very important, especially for brands that have defined specific brand images and messages.

When participating in e-commerce platforms, they are required to accept several regulations and policies that the platform offers, which may limit the ability to carry out unique advertising campaigns or special pricing strategies. special.

A typical example is Nike, which not only sells products through official stores and websites but also carries out unique marketing campaigns such as releasing limited sneaker models. Launch events like this will be very limited when carried out on e-commerce platforms in terms of both operations and marketing. Using its own platform not only helps Nike create exclusivity but also has complete control over the marketing and sales process, thereby creating unique experiences for customers.

A significant change related to the e-commerce platform policy that can be mentioned is the story of Shopee Vietnam recently. Shopee constantly has policy changes to strengthen the platform's operations, such as increasing fees, reducing shop preparation time, or most notably, the temporary detention of sellers' money to investigate fraud.

Here, we will not discuss the right or wrong of these new policies, but will only analyze their impact on sales on the platform. Increasing fees or reducing product preparation time are factors that significantly impact the business of both big brands and small retailers. When operating on the marketplace, everyone must follow these policies of Shopee without any other choice. The same goes for withholding money, brands may not be included in the scope of this policy. However, this is also an alarming bell about the unexpected policies of e-commerce platforms, and when we participate in their playground, we must comply.

Therefore, having a separate website will help the brand proactively maintain control over policies and maintain flexibility in its approach to the market, while protecting its image and brand value. mine.

Impact on consumers and the Vietnamese market

The absence of big brands on e-commerce platforms has a significant impact on the market and shopping behavior of Vietnamese consumers.

First, consumers must adapt to shopping directly from a brand's official website or store. This often results in a better shopping experience because websites have personalized interfaces and customer experiences, but it also requires customers to have a basic understanding of technology to be able to use and search for products. products on different websites.

Second, not being present on e-commerce platforms helps these brands maintain product value and avoid price competition. For consumers, this means they cannot find cheap deals like on e-commerce platforms, but in return, they can be assured of receiving high-quality products and better services from the brand itself.

Ultimately, this choice of brands also promotes diversity in the Vietnamese e-commerce industry. Other retailers and brands may see this as an opportunity to develop distinct business strategies, creating a diversity of choice for consumers and encouraging innovation in the industry.

Conclusion

As the e-commerce market is still booming in Vietnam, the choice of some major brands not to participate reflects a distinct and proactive strategy. This not only reflects the diversity in market approaches but also creates new challenges and opportunities for the e-commerce industry. This choice of major brands emphasizes the importance of controlling the brand experience, protecting product value, and being proactive in business policy. For consumers, this is an opportunity to learn and experience a different way of shopping, and is also a sign of changes in shopping habits and product quality expectations in the coming years.