Vietnam an Attractive Retail Market for Foreign Giants
Recent market research by AT Kearney, one of the world’s biggest management consulting companies, has ranked Vietnam at eighth position among the top ten markets for global retail expansion.
Wal-Mart of the US, Carefour of France, Tesco of the UK, Lotte Shopping of South Korea, Diary Farm of Hong Kong and South Asia Investment Pte. of Singapore are waiting for the chance to expand their operations to Vietnam when the country joins the WTO.
With a population of 83 million, open policies and increased purchasing power, Vietnam is being eyed by global retail giants like Big C, Metro Cash & Carry, and Parkson. Vietnam’s retail turnover in 2005 reached VND353.4 trillion (US$20.93 billion).
According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Trade, most Vietnamese manufacturers have yet to focus on jointly working to develop the retail network, lagging far behind their foreign counterparts.
Vinamilk and Kinh Do Corp. have their own distribution networks, said to be the strongest compared with other local manufacturers, but still behind foreigners Unilever, P&G and Colgate Palmolive.
Hoang Tho Xuan, head of the Ministry of Trade’s Domestic Policy Department, emphasized local enterprises should join hands to establish large distribution systems soon to increase their competitiveness. “As the market opens, the state will lose its capacity to protect local companies. So if enterprises do not exert themselves, they’ll lose out in a fierce market,” he said.
VietnamNet, Young People
Vietnamese
