Products made in Vietnam have a particularly cherished position in the minds and emotions of Lao people. A large number of Vietnamese businesses visited Laos prior to the COVID-19 epidemic in order to promote Vietnamese exports. The epidemic, however, caused many of these merchants to return to Vietnam. Those who tried to return after the epidemic had passed faced difficulties, such as the high price of entry and lodging.

The purpose of the consultation was to answer concerns concerning the export and import of processed agricultural goods and foods, such as quality and grading requirements, transportation methods, and more. On the other hands, the Laotian market is easy to enter because of its lack of competition, said the Vietnam Trade Office in Laos. Laotian culture is quite similar to that of Vietnam, even down to the staple food (sticky rice is more frequent than plain rice and beer is the primary libation). Beer from Vietnam has a tough time competing with Lao beer because of the latter's broad popularity and acceptability in that country. Beer from Vietnam is subject to a hefty excise fee when it's exported to Laos.

It is difficult for Vietnamese products to compete with cheap Chinese goods, fake goods, copycat products, and high shipping costs. Thailand's northeastern region is conveniently located near Laos's city of Vientiane, allowing for faster and cheaper shipping of Thai products to the Laotian market than Vietnamese goods. a Laotian firm is funding a chain of Vietnamese supermarkets, and that in order to be successful, these shops must stock Thai goods. Therefore, it is evident that the competitively priced Thai products constitute a threat to the Vietnamese goods market.

As a consequence of two years of pandemic effects and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, fuel prices in Laos skyrocketed and were scarce, leading to soaring consumer expenses and inflation. This will make it more harder for independent traders to get Vietnamese goods into the Lao market in the near future. Vietnam's Big C supermarket chain's distribution model is very flexible, and so is Thailand's.

Meanwhile, efforts to increase the availability of Vietnamese products beyond a few mom-and-pop businesses in Laos have mostly been overlooked. In addition, because to the close ties between the two countries, products from Vietnam are very well appreciated in Laos. When the Lao people try a new Vietnamese product and they like it, they stick with it for a long time.

Key transportation sector cooperation projects, including as the railway connecting Hanoi and Vientiane, are scheduled to take place between 2021 and 2025. All of these factors promote the shipment of Vietnamese goods to Laos, where they may be purchased at lower prices and delivered in shorter amounts of time. In addition, you may travel from the northeastern corner of Thailand to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, in a single day. Using this method, Vietnamese companies may find out what's popular in Thailand and start shipping over there.

Companies looking to expand their exports into Laos should take advantage of the country's growing middle class, but they should also keep in mind that any labels on products they send there will need to be written in Lao so that consumers there can understand what they are buying and how to care for it.