1:43:08 PM | 6/11/2008
After five years in the Vietnamese market, Kangaroo-trademarked products made by Vietnam-Australia Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Co. Ltd have been very familiar with Vietnamese consumers. The company’s products are not only sold in more than 1,800 supermarkets and commercial centres in Vietnam but also exported to foreign markets like Japan, Laos and Cambodia. The success of Vietnam-Australia Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Co. Ltd is attributable to the effort and will of its young, dynamic and talent director, Nguyen Thanh Phuong.
Phuong was born by a poor family in Cau Buou Village, Thanh Tri District, Hanoi and led a hard life from his childhood. He had to work to partially support his family when he was only 13 years old. He followed his mother to trade ice creams and fish sauces. The hard life cultivated his virtue and thinking of a talent, decisive and persuasive businessman.
His study at Hanoi University of Administration and Business supplemented his experience and nourished his ambition of leading a business. After he graduated in 2001, he worked for an import and export company and had a stable income. But, his ambition led him to find new challenge. One day, he visited a friend’s house and witnessed the convenience and utility of a water heater. He decided to conduct a research on this new interesting product. He then found out that the demand for purified water was very high in the polluting environment while the quality of tap water failed to meet the requirement. He did not choose the EU or Japanese technology but Australian. To start the business, he called others to pool the capital. The Vietnam-Australia Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Co. Ltd was set up in March 2003 and registered the ownership of Kangaroo trademark.
In the initial days, Kangaroo-trademarked products were undervalued by distributors despite of high quality. After careful thinking, he decided to deliver insecurity consignments to shop keepers. He even decided to come to the shops to introduce the product to consumers. The first shop he chose to introduce was a shop at 33 Hue Street, Hanoi. With his impressive patience and persuasiveness, Phuong successfully highlighted the advantages such as good-looking designs, high quality and reasonable prices. Several customers bought the heater and the shop decided to make a trial sale. The products were sold very well as he expected.
He immediately exchanged the product for customers if he found the errors. The reputation and reliability means financial sacrifice. Then, business operations of Vietnam-Australia Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Co. Ltd became stable and developed.
To expand the market, the company set the two objectives. Firstly, the product must have good quality, good-looking design and upgrade. Secondly, it must be attractive to customers. Therefore, the company actively invests in R&D activities to introduce at least two products to the market a day. It also regularly organises sales promotion activities with high-valued prizes.
After five years, Kangaroo was very familiar with Vietnamese people. Apart from two showrooms in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the company also has more than 50 distributors and more than 1,800 sales points at supermarkets and commercial centres in the country. It has become the leading supplier of water filters in Vietnam. Moreover, Kangaroo-trademarked products have been exported to foreign markets like Japan, Laos and Cambodia. The presence of Kangaroo products on the Japanese market is attributed the great success of the company as it is a very demanding market with quality criteria 10 – 100 times above Vietnam. The annual revenue grows over 50 per cent on average. Then, Vietnam-Australia Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Co. Ltd expanded to other fields like refrigeration electric engineering, construction, real estate and finance. It is now operated in the form of a holding company. In the near future, the company will be managed in the form of an economic group.
Phuong was very modest about what he has made. “I only applied what I have learnt, discovered and grasped opportunities and knew how to make a shortcut in business. It is very important to build and protect the trademark - the face and a security card of a company.” At the age of 30, Phuong nourished an ambition that consumers will use Kangaroo as many as LG or Samsung.
Trinh Long
Vietnamese
