Diapers look to clean up market

The Vietnamese market was currently home to over 50 kids’ diaper brands, according to market research firm TNS, but there were only three big diaper makers, Diana a member of Japan’s Unicharm Group, US’ Kimberly Clark and Procter & Gamble (P&G).

Of them, Diana accounted for 30 per cent market share and was the top diaper maker in Vietnam with an average 30 per cent annual growth expected to hold on in 2013.

Kimberly Clark and P&G, albeit not sharing details about their market share in Vietnam, confirmed their diaper business in Vietnam has contributed a marked part to their global revenue.

“The Vietnamese market is promising to quality family and personal care products which is P&G’s core field,” said P&G Vietnam director Emre Olcer.

Consumer goods’ analysts assumed diaper market big players have over-emphasised the urban market, whereas 70 per cent of the Vietnamese population lives in rural areas.

In this respect, Olcer said the Vietnamese market had saturated the segment of common products, while still lacking quality innovative products to satisfy consumers’ increasingly strict requirements.

“This has motivated development and also represented challenges to firms, forcing firms to try their best for higher market efficiency.”

In the recent past P&G, owner of Pampers brand, pumped $80 million into Pampers factory expansion within the next three years to better serve Vietnamese kids.

To date, P&G’s total investment in two Binh Duong-based factories has approximated $200 million and will increase further in the next three years.

Parallel to expanding factory in Vietnam, P&G also scales up export volume to Asia, Europe and America.
Kimberly Clark also exports products made in Binh Duong-based factory to different Asian markets, Australia, Europe and Latin America.

Unicharm Group recently stepped into Vietnamese market through acquiring 95 per cent stake in Diana in 2011. In the forthcoming time, the group contemplates building the region’s largest factory for product supply to South East Asia and southern China, according to Diana’s general director Do Anh Tu. Unicharm is holding 25 per cent of the diaper and toilet paper market share in Asia.