Will traditional drugstores be replaced with modern retail chains?

Analysts believe that modern drug retail chains will replace traditional drugstores in the near future, following the trend of modern supermarkets.



Truong Minh Hai, managing director of Phano, a pharmacy store chain, said that shopping at supermarkets and convenience stores has become a habit for Vietnamese housewives. Modern drugstores would also be the choice for Vietnamese.

The drug retail industry in the last two months has been witnessing a race of investors wanting to expand.

Phano has opened 60 drugstores since 2007 when it opened the first shop. Meanwhile, Pharmacity has 39 stores, Sapharo 18, Phuc An Khang 18, Eco 11 and My Chau 8. Vistar, which was considered a ‘rookie’ in the market as it only opened the first shop last year, has had 20 stores. Each of them follows specific business strategy.

Vistar, for example, both provides health care and beauty services. The chain run under the mode of convenience store, works 24/7 and cooperates with many foreign partners such as Boots, Watsons, Sasa and Mannings to bring branded goods into Vietnam. Vista also acts as the exclusive agent for Cmic Holdings from Japan, Han Song Jun, Crown Craft from South Korea and Thai Tanya from Thailand.

The biggest advantage of Eco Pharmacy chain is that its shops are located near large hospitals, while it has a division in charge of importing and distributing medicine.

Meanwhile, Pharmacity has shops in residential quarters which allows it to access customers easily. The chain has recently increased online sales and makes products bearing its own brand.

Pharmacy has shown its great ambition when announcing that it would open 500 stores by 2020. It is established as a Vietnamese company, but the co-founder and the manager of the company is foreign. Chris Blank spent many years working as an investment consultant for Red River and VinaCapital.

Analysts said that Pharmacity is a rival to Phano and any company in the same field.

My Chau in 2016 received capital from SAM to implement the plan to expand the network. It plans to open more than 80 stores throughout the country in the next three years.

An analyst said that the competition in the drug retail industry between traditional stores opened by individual pharmacists and drugstore chains will end up with the victory for the latter.

He said the watchdog agency is tightening requirements on drugstores, while customers are choosier and prefer buying drugs at prestigious stores. If so, individual pharmacists  would not have enough investment capital to satisfy the requirements.

Thanh Lich / vietnamnet