E74: How this side hustle fragrance brand won over Vietnamese students
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About this episode
How do you get a Vietnamese fragrance into the top 10 men’s fragrances on Shopee in your first year... while both founders still have full-time jobs?
Enter Vy Nguyen and Ngu Phan (Peter), Co-Founders of Lenoir. They join Ian Paynton to share how they built a perfume brand around Vietnam’s students. From testing scents with friends and packing orders after work to discovering why customers kept buying samples, this is a story of trial, error and paying attention.
We explore how gifting changed their business, why small freebies and personal touches matter, and what it takes to keep up with young Vietnamese consumers. We also get into the harder questions: staying ahead of copycats, adapting to a more competitive e-commerce market, and building customer relationships when the platforms control so much of the experience.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why starting with e-commerce can get you to market faster
- How listening to customers can change your business
- What works with young Vietnamese online shoppers
- How to find and test your unique selling point
- How to stay ahead of copycats
If you enjoy this conversation or think someone in your network could find value in it, please share it and hit follow to get notified when the next episode drops.
This podcast is brought to you by We Create Content, the content marketing agency that builds audiences for global brands in Vietnam. You can follow our host, Ian Paynton, on LinkedIn, and follow the podcast on Instagram, TikTok and X.
A special thanks to DJ Jase at The Beats Saigon for the soundtrack, and to YOU for listening.
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