Four mistakes premium
cosmetic brands make
in Vietnam.

That gap is not a matter of taste. Vietnamese consumers want European beauty. The gap is a matter of fluency: a demanding regulatory framework, distribution channels that must be chosen with care, and buying behaviour that looks nothing like Europe's.

These are the four mistakes we watch premium brands make, in order of how expensive they are.

Mistake oneOpening a company before testing the market

Many brands arrive in Vietnam intending to set up their own local entity straight away.

Foreign-invested companies face a heavier regulatory framework than Vietnamese ones. Incorporation runs in two stages: an Investment Registration Certificate (IRC), then registration of the company itself. In practice that takes months. Retail outlets may each need their own business licence. And if the venture stops, closing a foreign-invested company is harder than closing a local one.

Then come the running costs: salaries, premises, local accounting, compliance. That is a serious commitment made before the brand has learned whether its positioning works.

You do not need a company in Vietnam to find out whether Vietnam wants you.

The softer, cheaper route is to enter through distribution networks that already exist, run by partners who already have a reputation with Vietnamese consumers. That is what we recommend: build presence first, commit capital later.

Mistake twoUnderestimating import compliance

Imported cosmetics are tightly regulated. Before any product can legally be sold, it must be notified to the Drug Administration of Vietnam (DAV) through the Cosmetic Product Notification (CPN) procedure. Without it, the product cannot go on sale.

In practice, any delay or inconsistency in the file can hold the goods at the border. Solving that from Europe, with no local representative, no command of the framework and no command of the language, is slow and expensive.

We handle the whole procedure: preparing and filing the notification dossiers, coordinating with the authorities and customs, and tracking shipments at every stage. With teams on the ground, our clients have someone local who sees the problem coming.

Mistake threePicking distributors who do not match the brand

The distributor decides more of a brand's fate in Vietnam than most founders expect.

Without local knowledge, brands land in one of two traps. Either they sign a distributor whose customers are mostly expatriates, a niche that says nothing about the real Vietnamese market. Or they sign one whose positioning quietly contradicts their premium image. Both cap the brand.

Having no one on the ground makes it worse. It becomes hard to check how the product is displayed, to supervise logistics, to limit counterfeiting, or to get honest feedback. Distance, language and a chain of intermediaries make everything slower, blurrier and, in the end, dearer.

We select partners whose positioning genuinely fits: premium supermarkets, department store counters, specialist cosmetic distributors. We supervise deliveries, hold the line with every intermediary, and check the product is presented as it should be. The client's single point of contact stays Liên, in France.

Mistake fourRepeating the European marketing playbook

This is the hardest one to see coming. The brand deploys what worked in Europe, and nothing happens.

Buying behaviour in Vietnam is structurally different. Social media and live selling sit at the centre of the purchase, not at its edge. Nearly 78% of cosmetics buyers discover products through influencers. More than 38% of consumers watch live shopping for over three hours a week, and the decision is often made in under five minutes. In France, that channel stays marginal and the journey is longer, more rational, less digital.

The product itself often needs adapting too. A hot, humid climate, local routines, and aesthetic codes shaped by K-beauty pull in a different direction from European standards. A strong brand with the wrong range will still struggle.

We help clients read that market: which trends are moving, which ranges to lead with, which influencers actually fit, and which platforms the target audience is really on.

The strongest brands stay true to themselves. They simply learn to speak locally.