Masan opens first WinMart ‘experience store’ in Hanoi

WinCommerce, the groceries retailing arm of Masan Group, reopened the WinMart Thang Long store in Hanoi’s Cau Giay district Friday as "the first one in the capital city under the experience store model".

The 2,120-square meter store, among the largest WinCommerce outlets, not only offers “maximized shopping experiences" but also bonding activities for families, according to the company. With the new model, WinCommerce aims to serve different customer segments in urban areas.

Nguyen Thi Phuong, CEO of WinCommerce, said the retailer would replicate this new model in provinces and cities across Vietnam.

In May, WinCommerce opened the WinMart Novia Pham Van Dong in Ho Chi Minh City, the first following a new retail model called WinMart Urban.

In April, the company had launched its first WinMart Premium store in the upscale Phu My Hung urban area in District 7, HCMC. This store targets people of high and medium incomes living in and around premium urban areas.

The company has also designed the WinMart+ Rural model to serve cities’ outskirt areas and rural areas, targeting rural households with “elevated” shopping habits and promoting sales of local farm produce.

WinCommerce is the largest modern retail network in the country with 3,268 WinMart+ minimarts and 130 WinMart supermarkets, Masan said in its 2022 report. The figure included 730 minimarts and eight supermarkets opened last year.

The Masan Group had bought the retail Vinmart store network from Vingroup in 2019.

In 2022, WinCommerce’s net revenue went down 5% year-on-year to VND29.37 trillion ($1.25 billion). WinMart+ minimart business recorded a net revenue of VND19.82 trillion ($852.4 million), while the WinMart supermarket segment posted a net revenue of VND9.26 trillion ($393.7 million).

In the first quarter of 2023, WinCommerce's net revenue was VND7.34 trillion ($312.66 million), up 0.5% year-on-year. It opened 55 new WinMart+ minimarts and one new WinMart supermarket in the period.

Vietnam’s retail sales and service revenue, an indicator of domestic demand, went up 11.5% year-on-year to VND519 trillion ($22.06 billion) in the first five months of this year, according to the General Statistics Office.