Japanese retailer Muji to expand in Vietnam, targeting affluent

Japanese retailer Muji plans to open more stores in Hanoi in the second quarter of this year to meet increasing demand for high-value products, according to RetailNews Asia, Asia’s premier source for retail news.

Muji has been present in Vietnam for three years, with five stores, three in Ho Chi Minh City and two in Hanoi.

The news site quoted Tetsuya Nagaiwa, general director of Muji Vietnam, as saying: “Its stores in Vietnam are the largest at around 2,000 square meters on average. The size in Vietnam is almost double the average in other countries, including Japan.”

Muji’s latest 2,000-square meter store in HCMC’s Thu Duc city sells everything from food, home appliances and clothing to furniture, stationery and accessories.

Earlier, Nagaiwa said his company would cooperate more with local producers to sell more products specifically designed for the Vietnamese market, at better prices. The shift would reduce the firm's expenses and provide more work for local manufacturers.

“We see strong demand for high-value products,” he said, adding that Muji’s sales remained good because young consumers prefer its stationery, cosmetics and furniture.

Muji has steadily increased the local content rate and looked for local suppliers, Nagaiwa said, citing goods made in Vietnam account for 30% of its products and 97-98% in the case of products like T-shirts, backpacks and messenger bags. “We hope these numbers will increase in future," he said.

After discovering that the Vietnamese stationery market only had the popular and high-end segments and not the mid-range one, Muji started selling ballpoint pens for VND19,000 ($0.8), attracting students, who liked Japanese goods with minimalist designs, he added.

Not only Muji, many other Japanese retailers are opening more stores in Vietnam, targeting consumers that are not much affected by the difficult economic situation, said the news site.

Uniqlo, which has 15 stores in Vietnam after entering three years ago, last month announced plans to expand its network to the southern province of Binh Duong, with the first store to be opened this spring or summer.

In February, Aeon started building its seventh outlet in Vietnam in the central town of Hue at a cost of $169.67 million. Once inaugurated in April 2025, the 86,216-square-meter mall, located in the An Van Duong new urban area in An Dong ward, will be the largest mall in the central region.

Last December, Aeon signed a memorandum of understanding with Hai Duong authorities to build a mall in the northern province. The mall will be located in the southern urban area of Hai Duong town near Vo Nguyen Giap boulevard.

The Japanese retailer is now operating six malls in Vietnam, including two in Hanoi, one in Hai Phong, two in HCMC and one in nearby Binh Duong.

A recent business survey by the Japan External Trade Promotion Organization found that 100% of Japanese retail businesses in Vietnam expect profits to increase this year. Of them, 80% said they would expand in the next one to two years.