Emart to invest $200 million in HCMC

                                                          Photo: Emart

South Korean retailer to open stores and expand its business in the city.

South Korea’s largest retailer, Emart, has officially announced plans to invest $200 million in Ho Chi Minh City to expand its business scale.

In a memorandum of understanding on a strategic partnership with the city signed on September 9 it said it will invest in commercial facilities, including hypermarkets and supermarkets, by 2020.

“The $200 million will be used to expand Emart’s investments in Vietnam,” Mr. Le Huu Tinh, Emart Vietnam’s Marketing Director, told VET. “It will also expand the Vietnamese goods it sells, including fruit and seafood."

At the end of last year the first Emart store in Vietnam opened its doors in Go Vap district, Ho Chi Minh City, with investment capital of $60 million.

The hypermarket sells food, household items, and clothing made in South Korea. It will also have entertainment for children, restaurants, and cinemas to provide convenience and comfort to customers. It now plans to open a second store in the city’s Tan Phu district.

Emart began researching the Vietnamese market in 2011, to gain a fuller understanding of the diverse needs of customers. After receiving an investment license in May 2014 and construction permits in February of this year, the giant retailer then sped up the construction of the Go Vap hypermarket. 

In a previous interview with VET, Mr. Choi Kwang Ho, General Director of Emart Vietnam, said that Vietnam’s retail market has great potential, with a large and young population. Modern retail trade accounts for 20 per cent of the total and is equal to one-quarter of traditional retail trade such as wet markets and grocery stores in urban and rural areas.

“The market is heating up and competition is increasingly fierce,” he said. “This competition, however, will encourage the market’s development. Emart therefore wants to test its strength by bringing the best products, the highest quality, and a new shopping experience to Vietnamese customers.”

Emart began operations in South Korea in 1993 and has since expanded rapidly, opening 153 stores in its home country and ten in China. It recorded worldwide gross revenue of $13.2 billion in 2014.

According to figures from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, retail revenue in 2015 was estimated at $102 billion. There are now more than 700 supermarkets and 132 trade centers in the country, of which 22 are foreign-owned.

Retail growth is expected to reach 11.9 per cent by 2020 with a retail market size of $179 billion, of which modern retail will account for 45 per cent.

by Quynh Nguyen / vneconomictimes.vn