Big Japanese retailers compete with smaller Vietnamese counterparts

The Vietnamese retail market, though still small, is attracting the world’s giant retailers, including those from Japan.



7-Eleven has launched a big recruitment campaign to prepare for the opening of its convenience store in HCMC.

Analysts said in Vietnam, if 7-Eleven follows the same business strategy that it has used in many other countries, it will open more and more shops at ‘lightening speed’.

If so, it will be a big threat to Vietnamese retailers.

FPT has signed a contract on a total human resource management solution for Seven System Vietnam JSC (SSV, belonging to Seven Eleven). The implementation duration is four months.

Kyodo News reported that the Japanese biggest retailer would open its first store in April 2017 in HCMC before it opens other shops in other cities and provinces.

Within three years, it will open 100 stores in Vietnam, while the figure could be 1,000 within 10 years.

Meanwhile, other Japanese retailers have arrived in Vietnam sooner than 7-Eleven.

Takashimaya, with a long development history, opened a 15,000 square meter shopping mall at Saigon Center, HCMC.

Aeon is now running three Aeon Malls in HCM, Binh Duong and Hanoi, while it is also cooperating with Citimart and Fivimart to do business in Vietnam.

According to Business Insider, one 7-Eleven shop is opened every two hours in the world. However, analysts said that it will be not easy for the giant to expand its network in Vietnam with the same strategy.

In Vietnam, 7-Eleven will have to compete directly with Vinmart+, which had powerful financial capability from Vingroup and has 1,000 shops throughout the country so far. Vinmart+, present in every corner of urban and rural areas, is a threat to groceries.

Opinions from well informed circles said 7-Eleven is planning to swallow Vinmart+ chain as a part of a plan to conquer the Vietnamese market with the opening of 10,000 shops within 10 years.

However, a representative of Vingroup has said that the group will never sell the Vietnamese brand, including Vinmart+ chain, to foreigners.

Bach Hoa Xanh, a brand developed by The Gioi Di Dong Investment JSC, is another formidable rival in the Vietnamese market.

The company announced that it will make heavy investment in 2017 to raise the number of Bach Hoa Xanh shops in Binh Tan and Tan Phu districts in HCMC to 350, and build a distribution center.

The chain has set up an ambitious plan of obtaining revenue of VND2.5 trillion in 2017 and getting ready for the ‘big game’ from mid-2018.

According to MOIT, foreign-invested enterprises hold 70 percent of the the convenience store market share.

Thu Ha / vietnamnet