S. Korea’s E-mart to scale up investment in Vietnam

The retail giant plans to pour $200 million more into operations and social activities in HCMC.

E-Mart, South Korea's biggest discount store chain, signed an agreement with Ho Chi Minh City last week to invest $200 million into the southern economic hub, the Korea Herald reported.

The sum would be allocated for retail stores, supermarkets and other commercial facilities, as well as social development of local communities, according to the report.

In July, the company launched a 160-square-meter toy library and gave 10,000 helmets to Vietnamese children.

E-Mart said that they are making plans to import more Vietnamese products, including fruit and seafood.

The South Korean retailer opened its $60 million hypermarket in Ho Chi Minh City’s Go Vap District last year, after studying Vietnam’s economic climate for four years.

E-mart expects to expand its network to 10 stores across the country by 2020.

Vietnam, whose retail market is forecast to reach $109 billion in sales next year, is becoming an apple in the eyes of foreign investors.

Japanese discount retail brand Miniso has just opened its first three outlets in Hanoi, targeting 12 stores by the end of this year.

A few weeks earlier, upscale department store Takashimaya, also from Japan, rocked the retail scene in HCMC when it arrived at a large downtown shopping center as an anchor tenant.

Convenience store giant 7-Eleven has laid out its expansion strategy for Vietnam, with the first store to be open early 2018.

By Bui Hong Nhung / VnExpress