Luxury imitation products flood HCM City

Luxury imitation products flood HCM City
12:14' 16/03/2008 (GMT+7)


A genuine T-shirt costs US$100 while an imitation is availabe for US$9 in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: SGGP)
VietNamNet Bridge - Ho Chi Minh City is flooded with knock-offs of foreign luxury brands. Imitations with fake trademarks and tags are being sold not only at pop-and-mom shops, but also at downtown shopping centers.
An imitation Rolex watch sells for US$100, while the genuine article costs US$3,000-15,000.

A genuine Louis Vuitton or Carlorino suitcase, handbag, or purse costs at least US$200, but imitations are available for US$9 to US$18 in shops on the first floor of An Dong Plaza and Tan Binh Market.

A genuine Timberland T-shirt costs US$100, and a Lacoste or Holiter T-shirt US$50-200. But in HCMC, imitations are available for US$9.

It is easy to buy watches with fake trademarks like Rolex, Gucci, Lipice, Citizen, TAG Heuer, Oris, Rado, Cartier, Longines, Omega, and Movado at ridiculously low prices, a shopper said.

These imitations are available at Tax Shopping Center and at shops on Le Dai Hanh Street, on February 3 Street in District 10, and Quoc Huong Street in District 2.

“As I know, there are not many luxury watches, particularly Rolex and Oris, available all over the world, only a few hundreds,” the shopper added.

In Sai Gon, only the Diamond Plaza and Parkson shopping centers sell luxury watches under their genuine brand names, he added. Their prices range from US$850-US$8,500.

Meanwhile, watch shops on Quoc Huong Street sell knock offs for US$31 to US$94.
Talking about luxury goods going for knockdown prices, it cannot but mention Saigon Square at 77-89 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street as it is called “the center of luxury brands at knockdown prices”.

At Saigon Square, Lacoste T-shirts are sold for VND120,000 (US$7.5) and Gucci glasses fetch VND200,000 (US$12.5).

Saigon Square is a favorite with both foreign and local shoppers. Some overseas Vietnamese go there to buy gifts for their relatives.

Where Do Imitations Come From?

Most imitation goods are made in China and brought illicitly into the city by tourists and airline employees.

Some of the clothing sold under false trademarks are samples or substandard goods distributed illegally by local apparel suppliers.

A lot of imitations are made by small Vietnamese clothing producers. These companies buy superfluous materials from the brands’ suppliers and then illicitly tag or trademark them to sell in the local market at prices that are often 50-70 percent less the versions sold under genuine brand names.

Imitation goods not only reduce state revenue, but also make foreign investors lose faith in the Vietnamese market.

(Source: SGGP)

My opinion

I appreciate for Larry linamen and ray hilbert’s visiting, and I impressed. I want to know about that issue, and think about it more. Therefore I found an article about imitation product. From the research, I found that an imitation markets are bigger than I think. Especially, undevelopped countrys and sight seeing place are the best condition for imitation market.

From the article, imitation market is in a Vietnam. It is a huge size. As my guess, Vietnam is undevelopped and many foreigners visit this place for sight seeing. Furthemore, the trading is not happened under the table, and is appeared on the surface. It told us laws and public striction has the problem.

The imitation product is related with brand value. I think, making imitations is like a steeling someone’s long efforts. If someone steels my efforts, I would upset.

However, we know it is not a simple emotional problem. Brand value is the essential factor in marketing. To make brand value, firms need long time and efforts. Especially, if they lost this value once, it is very hard to recover. So the making brand value has the riskiness. Besides, imitation products may be low the real brand value. If imitation product is flood out like Vietnam, firms don’t want to have the riskiness and don’t want to develop new product. In the end, it leads to a market problem.

Nowadays, we can see many imitations our arround. It spoiled our markets. In the end, our economy will collapse. We must take account of imitation problem.

20300174 Nah Kilwoong entry-2

Phone English service surges in popularity

For Lee Yeon-joo, it takes just one phone call and ten minutes per day to improve her English speaking skills.
The 29-year-old office worker converses in English with a Canadian over the phone during weekdays. "Wherever I am, I can talk with an English speaker via my mobile phone. It is a convenient way of sharpening my English skills," she said.
A surging number of people - ranging from working professionals to students - have subscribed to phone English tutorial services as schools and companies are putting greater importance on fluent English.
Starting from last year, big telephone and internet firms have entered the rapidly-growing phone English-lesson service market, which is packed with hundreds of small- and medium-sized firms.
Leading English education institutes such as Samyook Language Institute and Herald Media, owner of The Korea Herald, have also entered the fray.
The revenues of top ten companies exceeded 43 billion won last year, and they are expected to reach 50 billion won this year, according to Spicus, a phone English tutorial service run by SK Communications.
The market is expected to amount to 200 billion won this year, while the English education market is to exceed 40 trillion won, according to the Korean Standards Association.
The nation's big businesses such as Samsung Group have tightened procedures to evaluate English communication skills when recruiting new employees, starting from this year.
English speaking tests have been also added to major English tests such as TOEIC and TOFEL, which are required to enter foreign language high schools, universities and companies.
Brightening prospects for the broader English education market, the new administration led by President Lee Myung-bak also said it will force schools to conduct classes in English language.
"Previously, adults were mostly interested in the service, but an increasing number of elementary school, middle and high school schools are interested in signing up for the service," said Huh Hye-jin, an official of Digital Herald Co.
On Tuesday the company launched an English-language lesson service in which its members discuss current issues with English native speakers over the phone, using daily articles of The Korea Herald, the nation's leading English-language newspaper.
Its service also includes lessons on English conversation and business English.
SK Communication's Spicus has achieved exponential growth.
Spicus has seen 10,000 new subscribers for the last month, one-third of its total members.
The company's monthly revenue also tripled to 250 million won in January and February 2008 compared to March 2007 when it launched the service.
Beginning in February, the firm has offered video English classes, using its popular instant messaging service, Nateon.
KT, the nation's dominant fixed-line carrier, also launched last year's English tutorial service, called "Hello ET," in collaboration with an English education firm, capitalizing on its telephone and internet infrastructure.
LG Dacom, the third-largest fixed-line operator, has also teamed up with Hankook University of Foreign Studies to made in-roads into the market in September last year.
By Jin Hyun-joo (hjjin@heraldm.com)
2008.03.13



Summary>
Starting from last year, big telephone and internet firms have entered the rapidly-growing phone English-lesson service market, which is packed with hundreds of small- and medium-sized firms. The market is expected to amount to 200 billion won this year, while the English education market is to exceed 40 trillion won.
The nation's big businesses have tightened procedures to evaluate English communication skills when recruiting new employees. English speaking tests have been also added to major English tests such as TOEIC and TOFEL. The new administration led by President Lee Myung-bak also said it will force schools to conduct classes in English language.

Oppinion>
Korea is investing a lot of money and time on English, but Koreans are not good at English, especially at speaking because they have little chance to speak in English with a foreigner. Moreover, they are reluctant to speak in English with a foreigner because they are ashamed of mistakes in grammar and pronunciation.
Phone English-lesson service meet the needs of Koreans who are shy but want to practice English through talking with an English speaker via mobile phone without facing each other. And for this, they can practice English using short time.
But this service also has challenges such as expensive cost and qualified English speakers. If an English speaker talks 10 minutes with 6 Koreans per an hour, the speaker can talk with 54 people in 9 hours. And if the speaker’s salary is 3million won, the trainees would pay 60 thousand won at least. One instance, the phone English-lesson service in Spicus(SK telecommunications) costs 70 thousand won 10minustes, 8times per month. And Koreans prefer English speakers from North America, so that the trainees pay more. Phone English-lesson service firms need to seek ways to reduce costs.
The subjects need to be diverse ranging from discussion, hobby, movie, song, to business. And discount on early time or later time will disperse signed-up people.

20600613 전혜진(Jeon, Hyejin)