Domestic retailers dominate market in Vietnam

Vietnam’s retail store market is being dominated by domestic players, according to a report by Q&ME, a local market researcher.

For supermarkets, Co.op Mart, under state-run cooperative Saigon Co.op, and Winmart, a Vietnamese brand under private conglomerate Masan, topped the list with 128 and 123 stores, respectively.

Thai retail giant Central Retail followed with 56 stores, including 24 under the Lanchi Mart brand, 21 under Mega Market, and 11 Tops Market, formerly known as Big C.

Japanese branded Sakuko was far behind the top three with 35 stores.

The number of supermarkets in Vietnam slightly fell from 373 in 2022 to 362. Ho Chi Minh City accounted for the biggest portion with 87, followed by Hanoi with 83, according to Q&ME.

Regarding department stores, Vincom, part of private conglomerate Vingroup, held the biggest slice of the pie with 83 stores out of 111 in total. LotteMart under South Korean giant Lotte and Japan's Aeon Mall followed with 15 and six, respectively.

Meanwhile, the mini store sector featured only foreign players. Chinese retailer Miniso led the market with 47 stores, followed by South Korean rival Minigood with 17, and Chinese retailer Mumuso with 10.

In the convenience store sector, domestic retailers are leading in terms of numbers of stores. WinMart+, under Masan, accounted for the biggest portion with 3,049 stores, followed by Bach Hoa Xanh, under Mobile World Investment Corporation, with 1,710.

The two Vietnamese retailers make up 4,759 out of 6,720 convenience stores in Vietnam, or 70.8% of the total.

Famous foreign brands Circle K, GS25, FamilyMart, 7-Eleven and Ministop are looking to increase market share. Circle K is currently in the lead among foreign brands with 423 establishments, followed by GS25 with 201, FamilyMart with 146, and 7-Eleven with 80.

Market research site Euromonitor pointed out that the revenue at foreign convenience store brands in Vietnam increased from VND3.35 trillion ($142.7 million) in 2016 to VND8.02 trillion ($341.8 million) in 2021. Of the foreign brand group, Circle K held the highest market share at 48%, followed by Family Mart 18.8%, Ministop 14.3%, and 7-Eleven 7.3%.

Vietnamese firms lead in drugstore, electrical, IT supply chains

The number of chain drugstores in Vietnam jumped 34% year-on-year to 2,698 in 2022. With 1,016 stores, FPT Long Chau, part of technological giant FPT, held the biggest market share, according to Q&ME. Local players SK Pharmacy and An Khang Pharmacy trailed with 937 and 524 stores, respectively.

Geographically speaking, Ho Chi Minh City was the biggest market with 915 chain stores, up from 784 in 2022, while the number of chain stores in Hanoi fell from 333 to 262.

Among electrical chains, Dien May Xanh under Mobile World Investment Corporation was the biggest player with 3,385 stores, out of 3,903 units in the market, nearly 10 times more than it nearest rival Mediamart, which has 344 stores. Overall, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City both had 358 stores each.

Mobile World Investment Corporation, listed on the HCMC Exchange (HoSE) as MWG, also topped the IT product market with 3,385 stores under its The Gioi Di Dong brand. FPT Shop was second with 985 stores, followed by Viettel Store under telecom giant Viettel with 400 stores.

Overall, the market had 5,097 stores, with HCMC and Hanoi leading the market with 583 and 493 establishments, respectively.

Vietnam’s retail sales and service revenues, which indicate domestic demand, reached VND501.3 trillion ($21.34 billion) in March, up 13.4% year-on-year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). The first-quarter figure grew 13.9% to VND1,501.3 trillion ($64 billion).