Both domestic and foreign retailers speeded up their business during 2022 with post-pandemic plans to further tap the country’s growing middle class, creating a booming year for the industry.
Stronger sales amid economic recovery
Vietnam’s retail sales of goods and services expanded 19.8% in 2022 to almost VND5,680 trillion ($240 billion). The value is 15% higher than that in the pre-pandemic 2019, according to the General Statistics Office. Sales in December rose 17.1% from a year earlier.
Localities enjoying stronger growth rates in revenue include Ho Chi Minh City (26.4%), Danang (14.7), Can Tho (14.2%), Dong Nai (13.7%), Quang Ninh (12.1%), Hanoi (12%), and Hai Phong (10.4%).
The Vietnamese economy recovered in 2022 from the pandemic, with a growth rate of 8.02%, the fastest pace in 15 years and higher than the government’s target of 6.0%-6.5%.
Retail race among Japanese, Korean, Thai players
Aeon, Japan’s largest retailer, is accelerating the opening of malls and stores in Vietnam to expand its presence, eyeing some advantages in the food sector. The giant sees Vietnam as an attractive market and an important part of its medium-term business plan for a number of reasons.
The country is home to a population of almost 100 million people with a growing middle class. Secondly, foreign retailers included in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) will no longer have to seek permission when opening stores of 500 square meters or bigger.
Aeon currently operates around 200 stores in Vietnam, including six shopping malls and several outlets. It plans to triple its Vietnam presence by 2025.
Boxed Inc., an American online platform that sells household consumables in bulk, and Aeon signed a definitive agreement in October to launch Boxed’s end-to-end Spresso software and services platform in the Vietnamese market with Aeon Vietnam Company.
“Aeon has been a great partner for us in Malaysia, and we are beyond excited to replicate our e-commerce synergy in such a dynamic, growing economy as Vietnam, and potentially other strategic markets in the near future,” said Chieh Huang, CEO of Boxed.
A rival to Aeon in Vietnam is Thailand’s Central Retail, which is spending 30 billion baht ($828 million) in the 2022-2026 period to double its number of stores in the country to more than 710.
The Thai giant opened one Tops Market supermarket in Can Tho city on December 22, the first of its kind in the Mekong Delta, and another in the northern city of Hai Phong one day before. The two are the ninth and tenth Tops Market outlets in Vietnam. The eight others are located in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
“With Vietnam as one of Central Retail’s key strategic markets, our growth has leaped with sales reaching 38.592 billion baht (over $1.06 billion) within 10 years, accounting for 22% of our total sales today,” Central Retail Vietnam CEO Olivier Langlet said in July.
Earlier in 2022, the giant retailer announced its plans to build supermarkets and stores in the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu and Dong Thap, and the central provinces of Quang Binh, Nghe An, and Binh Thuan.
In Vietnam, the Thai retailer operates the Go supermarkets, hypermarkets, and compact malls, along with the Tops Market stores.
South Korea’s Lotte Duty Free is also growing its Vietnam presence, with its first downtown duty-free store in the country opening mid-November 2022 in Danang, a central coastal city that has become a hot spot for South Korean travelers.
“Vietnam comes with further potential in tourism and travel retail development,” said Lotte Duty Free CEO Kap Lee. “The Danang downtown store will be a strong foundation for us to maintain our leading position in the entire Southeast Asia.”
Lotte Duty Free described Vietnam as its “forward base” for targeting the entire regional duty-free market. The major travel retailer expects to achieve sales of more than 50 billion won ($38 million) a year from the downtown Danang operation, as Vietnam’s tourism market has recovered to pre-Covid levels.
The downtown Danang outlet is the retailer’s fourth store in the country. It plans to open a store in downtown Hanoi next year as part of what it calls the Lotte Duty Free Belt, which encompasses the Asia Pacific region.
In 2017, the retailer started duty-free operations at Danang International Airport, followed by two more stores in Vietnam - one at Cam Ranh Airport in Khanh Hoa province in 2018 and another at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi in 2019.
Uniqlo, a clothing chain under Japanese retailer Fast Retailing, opened a new shop at Emart Sala in HCMC’s Thu Thiem area early this December, bringing its total in Vietnam to 15 within three years.
It plans to open two stores and one factory in the southern province of Binh Duong in 2023, said Uniqlo Vietnam COO Sato Ryota.
Vietnamese retailers beefing up
Vu Thi Hau, chairwoman of the Vietnam Retailer Association, says 2023 would be a year for the retail industry’s full recovery after the pandemic. But Masan Group has started to prepare for this during 2022 as the Vietnamese top retailer.
The HCMC-based conglomerate stepped up its retail expansion in the third quarter by opening the first of the all-in-one stores under its new Win brand. The Win network is a mini-mall concept that combines WinMart (grocery), Techcombank (ATM and financial services), Phuc Long (tea and coffee), Dr. Win (health and well-being), and Reddi (telecoms).
“We have delivered on our Point of Life innovation with 30 Win stores rolled out in the third quarter and are confident that the Win concept is a winning, scalable model,” group chairman Nguyen Dang Quang said in a release on the private group’s January-September business results.
“Our modern grocery stores now account for 50% of the nationwide network and we are constantly innovating to give consumers what they want,” he added.
In 1996, Quang founded a joint stock company named Viet Tien as Masan Group's predecessor to make and sell instant noodles and processed foods. Its ecosystem today includes integrated retail, agriculture, mining, consumer goods, banking, and finance. Its investors include South Korean conglomerate SK Group, a global giant investor, China-based Alibaba Group, and KKR – a leading global investment firm. Masan became Vietnam's fourth most valuable company by market capitalization in 2021.
As for major FPT Retail in 2022, DSC Securities Company estimates that the firm’s revenue and net profit would reach VND28.05 trillion ($1.187 billion) and VND450 billion (over $19 million), up 24% and 1.56% year-on-year, respectively.
FPT Retail revised up its network plan to about 1,000 stores by the end of 2022, an increase of about 200 stores compared to the previous plan.
Vincom Retail JSC of Vietnam’s largest conglomerate Vingroup is another strong rival in the industry.
Amid the post-pandemic economic and retail recovery, Vincom Retail’s January-September net profit reached VND1,944 billion ($82.25 million), up 63% year-on-year, mainly thanks to the re-opening of big brands at Vincom shopping centers nationwide.
The retail property firm operates 83 malls in 44 localities and cities. It has plans to launch new ones in 2023 to further cement its position as the leading commercial center investor, according to Viet Capital Securities Company.
Vietnamese private conglomerate Thaco is also expanding its retail business with the Emart brand via a franchise deal with Korean top retailer Emart.
HCMC-headquartered Thaco launched its second Emart hypermarket in Vietnam early this December. The giant expects to open at least 20 Emart stores across the country by 2026.
Both operational Emart stores are located in HCMC, one in Go Vap district and the other in Thu Duc city on the outskirts. Thaco said it had planned to launch the third, also in Go Vap, in December 2022 but the heavyweight has not made it.