Competition heats up as foreign retailers remain keen on Vietnam market

The slowdown in economic growth and presence of domestic competitors have not dimmed Vietnam’s retail potential in the eyes of foreign players seeking a foothold in the market.

As a result, competition for retail market share is likely to heat up in the coming time, observers say.

Vietnam's total goods retail sales and consumer service revenues increased 10.4% year-on-year in the first seven months of this year to more than VND3,530 trillion ($149 billion), according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). Of this, goods retail sales was estimated at VND2,800 trillion ($118.1 billion), up 9% year-on-year.

Nitori, a leading home products specialist from Japan, plans to further its penetration of overseas markets with 77 new outlets in the pipeline for the new fiscal year, including making its debut in Vietnam and Thailand, global market research firm Euromonitor said in a report released Saturday.

The retailer internally manages a vertical supply chain, which allows it to control the entire process including planning, manufacturing, distribution and retail, ensuring product quality and minimizing external costs incurred. In 2022, it opened its first Southeast Asian outlets in Malaysia and Singapore.

South Korean-backed convenience store system GS25 Vietnam is expanding its presence in the country, having succeeded in attracting a $20 million loan from the World Bank’s private sector investment arm, the International Finance Corp. (IFC).

The funding boost is seen as recognition of the chain’s aggressive growth and successful merging of South Korean food culture with local tastes. GS25 Vietnam is a joint venture between Vietnam’s Son Kim Group and South Korean firm GS Retail.

The South Korean firm announced on August 3 that GS25 has become the top operator in southern Vietnam, surpassing rivals Circle K of the U.S. and Japan’s FamilyMart, five years after its market debut. As of July, it was operating 211 stores in southern Vietnam despite entering the market well after other foreign competitors.

However, a Son Kim Group representative who wished to remain anonymous, told The Investor that they cannot confirm GS25’s top position in the south.

Meanwhile, Lotte World Aquarium Hanoi, which boasts the largest indoor aquarium in the capital city, opened August 1 at the Lotte Mall West Lake. The South Korean retail giant held a soft opening for the $250 million Lotte Mall West Lake on July 28.

On August 2, South Korean cosmetic and clothing company APR announced that its street style fashion brand Nerdy has opened its third and fourth stores in Hanoi.

The third store is located inside the "The Loop," a shopping mall in one of the capital city’s landmark buildings, the Indochina Plaza Hanoi. With a cinema multiplex and a variety of restaurants, it is a popular hangout among the youth. The fourth store is at the Lotte Mall West Lake, which boasts a total floor area of about 354,000 square meters.

The third and fourth Nerdy stories were made possible through collaboration with Vietnam’s fashion distribution company Maison Retail Management International. Maison holds distribution rights for various famous domestic and international fashion brands, including Nerdy.

Nerdy said it planned to continue its offline expansion in Vietnam through its partnership with Maison.

According to market observers, the popularity of distinctive street fashion, such as Nerdy, is on the rise due to the popularity of K-content and the spread of related Korean culture.

K-pop girl group Blackpink’s first-ever shows in Vietnam, held July 29-30 at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi, attracted around 70,000 fans.

Meanwhile, Malaysian retail group Mr DIY launched its first brick-and-mortar store in Vietnam last month as it accelerated its growth in Southeast Asia. Located in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 7, the store spans 930 square meters and features the same design as other Mr DIY locations, which reflects its Malaysian origins.

The inaugural store offers more than 10,000 products in multiple categories including hardware, household, electrical, furnishing, car accessories, stationery and sports, accessories, jewelry and cosmetics.

The retailer had announced plans to debut in Vietnam earlier this year and had established an online presence first.

Vietnamese retailers respond

HCMC-headquartered Vietnamese retailer Saigon Co.op simultaneously opened four new Co.op Food stores late July in HCMC, Bien Hoa town in Dong Nai province and Thanh Hoa province in the central region.

In July alone, Saigon Co.op opened 13 such stores, bringing the convenience store system’s total to 571 nationwide.

Saigon Co.op also runs the Co.opMart supermarket system and Co.opXtra hypermarket network in Vietnam.

Saigon Co.op’s marketing director Nguyen Ngoc Thang said both Co.opmart and Co.opXtra had expansion plans in order to diversify its ecosystem. The Vietnamese retailer was seeking to boost “online to offline” and “offline to online” shopping, Thang added.

Runway Vietnam, a homegrown distributor of luxury fashion brands, opened its multi-brand duplex store at Diamond Plaza, a luxury mall in HCMC’s District 1, on July 21. The store has two separate spaces for women and unisex Gen Z fashion with several international brands including Comme des Garçons Play, Jacquemus, The Attico, Self-Portrait, Theory, Forte Forte, Ganni, Zimmermann, Studio Nicholson, and Eenk.

Founded in 2008, Runway Vietnam is registered under GlobalLink Co. Ltd, the monobrand boutique operating partner for a slew of major luxury brands in Vietnam. Besides the Diamond Plaza location, it has two other stores in HCMC and one in Hanoi.

“Luxury today can be both exigent and laid-back, out of reach and attainable, serious and funny. It is multidirectional as next to several established labels in our new stores there are brands founded by independent third-millennium designers,” Runway founder Tran Hoai Anh said at the opening of his latest store in July.

He said Vietnam’s luxury and premium fashion spending was recovering from the pandemic, even though the market remained “quite challenging” due to widening discrepancies between online and offline retail prices.

Wealthier shoppers

Vietnam has experienced robust growth in the luxury sector in recent years thanks to a growing middle class and a rise in the number of high-net-worth individuals.

Data from German firm Statista, which provides statistics, market insights, consumer insights and company insights, shows that revenue in the Vietnamese luxury goods market is inching toward $1 billion in 2023; and is expected to grow annually by 3.2% in the next five years. Some 8.9% of the sales will be generated online this year.

Vietnam’s economy expanded 3.72% year-on-year in the first half of the year. The government will not change this year’s GDP growth target of 6.5%, and will strive to achieve an economic expansion of about 9% in the second half of the year, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said at a cabinet meeting in Hanoi last Saturday.