Japanese consumer goods shine in Laos

Many foreign investors and companies have recently opened stores and mini-markets in Vientiane in a bid to offer local and foreign residents better access to consumer goods and international high-end brands.
The imported goods with high quality and affordable prices are proving to be popular among local and foreign residents.
Several European and Asian grocery products are now available in Vientiane and other cities across Laos.
The mini-stores that import Japanese and Korean-made products include J-mart and K-mart. These stores offer a variety of consumer goods for their customers.
Moong Pattana International Public Co, a Thai-based sole distributor, is among the foreign companies demonstrating its interest in importing Japanese products to the Lao market. The company is distributing a wide range of baby goods from powder to laundry detergents under the Pigeon brand from Japan.
At this week’s opening of the Pigeon store, the chief executive of Moong Pattana International Public, Suwanna Chokdee-anand, said it was the first store in Laos that has the sole rights to sell the Pigeon brand from Japan.
“We are now officially launching the Pigeon brand store, while consumer products for mothers and their children touch on the Lao government’s policy on healthcare for mothers and their children,” she said.
She said that after the Asean Economic Community came into effect at the end of 2015, the company had considered Laos as the first country where it would expand in the region.
Currently there are many kinds of products for children on sale at various stores and mini-markets in Vientiane. Those imported goods are from different countries regionally and internationally.
However, products from Japan are considered as the among the highest quality products in the world, so bilateral trade between Japan and Laos has been fully promoted over the past years.