If you are an international buyer planning a sourcing trip to Vietnam, the first question is probably not whether a trade show is large or well established.
The more practical question is: Will I find enough relevant Vietnamese suppliers there to make the trip worthwhile?
That distinction matters. A trade show can have thousands of visitors and hundreds of booths, but still offer limited value if most exhibitors are outside your product category, if the show is dominated by traders rather than manufacturers, or if you could meet the same suppliers through a few emails without flying to Vietnam.
Vietnam International Sourcing Expo (VIS) is interesting from this perspective because it was created specifically around international sourcing. Rather than simply showcasing Vietnamese products, the event is designed to bring international buyers, retailers, importers and sourcing organizations to Vietnam and connect them with local suppliers.
So, what can you actually source at VIS? How many Vietnamese companies exhibit there? And is it worth including the show in a Vietnam sourcing trip?
What is Vietnam International Sourcing Expo?
Vietnam International Sourcing Expo is an annual sourcing event held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC) in Ho Chi Minh City. It is hosted by Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade and combines a trade exhibition with B2B meetings, sourcing activities, business forums and, in some editions, visits to Vietnamese factories and production facilities.
VIS is relatively new.
The first edition was held in September 2023. At the time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade expected approximately 300 participating companies and around 200 international delegations from 30 countries and territories. The event was developed as part of a broader government initiative to help Vietnamese companies participate more directly in foreign distribution networks.
The timing was also relevant. Following Covid-19 and subsequent disruptions to global supply chains, international companies were increasingly looking at supply-chain diversification. Vietnam was already benefiting from this shift, and VIS was created partly to connect that growing international sourcing interest with Vietnamese manufacturers and exporters.
VIS 2026 was therefore only the fourth edition of the event.
For buyers, however, the age of a trade show is probably less important than its supplier base. The more useful questions are what products are available, who the exhibitors are and whether the show can provide access to suppliers that match your sourcing requirements.
What products can international buyers source at VIS?
The exhibition has focused from the beginning on product categories where Vietnam already has a meaningful manufacturing or export base.
The first VIS in 2023 included food, textiles and apparel, footwear, backpacks and bags, sports and outdoor products, household goods, furniture and supporting industries.
By 2026, the exhibition had been organized into four main areas.
Food & Beverage covers agricultural products, processed foods and beverages.
Home & Houseware includes furniture, indoor and outdoor decoration, construction materials, handicrafts and household products.
Lifestyle & Personal Care includes fashion, accessories, personal electronics, lifestyle products, cosmetics and wellness products.
Export Supply Chain covers businesses supporting manufacturing and international trade, including logistics, packaging, machinery, raw materials, industrial parks and consulting services.
For buyers sourcing consumer products, particularly food, home products, furniture, textiles, fashion, footwear, handicrafts and lifestyle goods, there is therefore a relatively clear fit.
For highly specialized industrial products, the case is less obvious. A buyer looking for a very specific component or industrial technology should check the exhibitor directory before planning a trip around VIS.
The name “International Sourcing Expo” should not by itself be taken to mean that every Vietnamese manufacturing sector will be well represented.
Are the exhibitors actually Vietnamese suppliers?
This is an important question for international buyers.
There are many trade fairs in Asia where the location of the exhibition does not necessarily tell you much about where the exhibitors manufacture. A buyer flying to Vietnam specifically to diversify sourcing away from another country would understandably want to know whether the companies on the exhibition floor are actually Vietnamese suppliers.
VIS has been designed primarily around Vietnamese manufacturers and exporters.
For example, official figures for VIS 2025 reported more than 400 Vietnamese exhibiting companies, presenting approximately 12,000 export-ready products.
The 2026 event again reported more than 400 participating companies, with 12,000 m² of exhibition space.
That does not mean every booth belongs to a Vietnamese manufacturer. The exhibition also includes FDI companies operating in Vietnam, service providers, supply-chain companies and international participants. The Export Supply Chain section in particular naturally includes companies that are not product manufacturers.
So if your sourcing requirement specifically calls for a Vietnamese-owned manufacturer, a factory located in Vietnam, or a defined level of Vietnamese local content, this still needs to be verified supplier by supplier.
But the basic proposition of VIS is different from many general international trade fairs: Vietnamese supply is the core of the exhibition rather than simply one national pavilion among dozens of countries.
For buyers whose objective is to explore Vietnam as a sourcing market, that is probably the most relevant feature of the event.
How international is the buyer side of the show?
VIS is not intended to rely only on buyers who happen to already be in Vietnam.
One of the mechanisms behind the event is Vietnam’s network of overseas Trade Offices, which works with importers, distributors, retailers and business organizations in their respective markets to bring international purchasing delegations to Vietnam.
The scale has increased since the first edition.
VIS 2023 expected around 200 international delegations from 30 countries and territories. By 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Trade reported activities involving around 300 international distribution channels and purchasing delegations from 60 countries and territories.
For VIS 2025, official post-event information reported 450 foreign business delegations from 60 countries and territories.
VIS 2026 reported more than 10,112 visitors, representation from 60+ countries and territories, and more than 3,000 B2B appointments during the event.
[VIS 2026 official statistics infographic can be inserted here]
For a buyer considering whether to visit, I would pay more attention to the 3,000+ B2B appointments than to the total visitor number.
Ten thousand visitors can include exhibitors, service companies, local businesses, media, government representatives and many other types of attendees. A large visitor count does not necessarily improve a sourcing trip.
B2B meetings are more relevant because they indicate that supplier-buyer matching is an important part of the event rather than an additional activity on the side.
What about names such as Walmart, Costco, Uniqlo or Amazon?
Large international companies have been associated with VIS since its early editions.
For the inaugural event in 2023, Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade announced participation or sourcing interest involving companies including Walmart, Amazon, Aeon, Uniqlo, Carrefour, Decathlon, Central Group, Coppel, IKEA and LuLu.
VIS 2026 promotional materials also display international retail and sourcing names including Amazon, Central Retail, Walmart, Coppel, LuLu, H&M, Uniqlo, Costco and REWE Group.
These names are useful indicators of the type of international sourcing organizations the event is trying to attract, but they should be interpreted carefully.
A logo in promotional material does not necessarily mean that a particular company will send buyers for every category at every edition. Nor does the presence of a global retailer mean that every exhibitor will have an opportunity to meet its sourcing team.
If meeting a particular retailer is important to your trip, confirm its participation and relevant product category with the organizer before travelling.
VIS can be more useful if the sourcing trip continues beyond the exhibition hall
One advantage of attending a sourcing event in Vietnam is that your supplier search does not have to end when you leave SECC.
VIS has included business matching and programs connecting international purchasing delegations with companies in different Vietnamese localities. The Ministry of Industry and Trade reported such activities around the 2024 edition, including visits by purchasing delegations to businesses and production facilities.
This can be particularly useful for OEM and private-label sourcing.
A booth can tell you what a supplier sells. It usually cannot tell you enough about how the supplier actually manufactures.
Once a potential supplier has been identified, buyers may still need to evaluate production lines, machinery, capacity, quality systems, certifications, R&D capability, testing facilities and working conditions. They may also want to understand whether the company is genuinely manufacturing the product or simply trading it.
Having the exhibition and factories in the same country creates a useful sourcing sequence:
Trade show → B2B meeting → Supplier shortlist → Factory visit → Commercial discussion
For a serious sourcing trip, this may be more valuable than simply spending three days walking through exhibition halls.
Can you find manufacturers rather than traders?
VIS provides access to Vietnamese manufacturers and exporters, but buyers should still conduct normal supplier qualification.
The word “manufacturer” on a company profile should never replace due diligence.
If manufacturing origin matters to your sourcing strategy, ask specific questions: Where is the factory? Which production processes are performed in-house? Which processes are subcontracted? What is the monthly capacity? Which export markets does the company currently serve? What certifications does the factory hold? Can you visit the production facility?
For OEM sourcing, it is also worth asking about tooling, product development, testing, MOQ and customization capabilities before arranging a factory visit.
VIS can help create the initial connection.
It cannot replace supplier verification.
Should you travel to Vietnam only for VIS?
This depends heavily on your product category and how you plan the trip.
If you are sourcing products in one of VIS’s stronger sectors and the exhibitor directory contains a meaningful number of relevant suppliers, the exhibition can provide an efficient starting point. Instead of arranging individual introductory meetings across Vietnam, you can meet several potential suppliers at one location and decide which companies deserve further investigation.
However, I would not book a flight simply because the event advertises 400+ companies or 10,000+ visitors.
Before travelling, I would first download or request the exhibitor list and build a shortlist.
If I could identify perhaps 15, 20 or 30 potentially relevant suppliers, I would then contact the most interesting companies before arriving. I would also check where their factories are located and leave additional days after the exhibition for factory visits.
That changes the economics of the trip considerably.
Instead of flying to Ho Chi Minh City for a three-day trade show, you are effectively planning a Vietnam sourcing trip around VIS.
The exhibition becomes the first filtering stage rather than the entire purpose of the journey.
So, is Vietnam International Sourcing Expo worth visiting?
VIS is still young. It started in 2023 and has only completed four editions.
But for international buyers, its value does not really depend on whether it has been running for four years or forty.
The relevant question is whether it can give you efficient access to enough suitable Vietnamese suppliers.
The 2026 edition brought together more than 400 participating companies, attendees representing more than 60 countries and territories, and over 3,000 B2B appointments. Those figures suggest that VIS has developed into a meaningful sourcing event in Vietnam.
They do not, however, guarantee that it is the right sourcing event for every buyer.
If you are looking for food and beverage products, furniture, housewares, textiles, fashion, footwear, handicrafts, lifestyle products or other consumer goods where Vietnam has an established manufacturing base, VIS is worth investigating as part of a Vietnam sourcing trip.
For more specialized categories, start with the exhibitor directory.
In fact, that is probably the simplest way to decide whether VIS deserves a place on your travel calendar.
Don’t start with the number of visitors. Start with the suppliers.
If the exhibitor list contains enough companies you genuinely want to meet, VIS may give you something difficult to reproduce remotely: the opportunity to meet multiple Vietnamese suppliers in one place, shortlist the most promising ones and then visit their factories while you are already in Vietnam.
Chuyên gia với 15 năm kinh nghiệm trong lĩnh vực Sales Xuất Khẩu. Tôi đồng hành cùng các doanh nghiệp Việt Nam từ các dự án MS đến OBM, từ Indonesia, Đông Âu tới thị trường Mỹ hay Argentina xa xôi.