According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), in 2021, HCM City had the most supermarkets (237), which was the same as 2020. If compared with 2015, it had an additional 58 supermarkets.

Hanoi has the second highest number of supermarkets. In 2021, Hanoi had 123 supermarkets, a drop of seven supermarkets compared with 2020. The figure was the lowest since 2015.

Hanoi had 137 supermarkets in 2015 and 141 in 2019, the highest number so far. Since 2015, the number of supermarkets in Hanoi has decreased.

Kien Giang, Ninh Binh and Nghe An are three localities witnessing a rapid increase in the number of supermarkets.

In 2015, Kien Giang only had six supermarkets in the province, while the figure jumped to 63 in 2021, 10 times higher than in 2015, and 47 supermarkets higher than in 2020.

In 2015, there were only seven supermarkets in Ninh Binh, but the figure rose to 40 in 2021, seven higher than 2020.

As for Nghe An, the figure increased from 39 supermarkets in 2015 to 77 in 2021. The province had 95 supermarkets in 2020 and 89 in 2019.

Da Nang has 71 supermarkets, the same number as 2020 and only one supermarket more than in 2018 and 2019. Meanwhile, Khanh Hoa has 31 supermarkets, the same as the two previous years.

Other localities have very small numbers of supermarkets. Quang Nam, Dak Lak, Bac Kan, Tuyen Quang, Yen Bai, Dien Bien, Lang Son, Ben Tre, Ca Mau, Hau Giang, Phu Yen, Binh Thuan, Lai Chau and Ha Tinh have 2-4 supermarkets each.

The figures reflect local retail revenue as well as local people’s consumer habits and economic scale.

Analysts note that some localities witnessed the number of supermarkets increasing rapidly in one year, but the figure later fell sharply.

Hai Duong, for example, had 23 supermarkets in 2015, but only eight in 2021. Lao Cai had 13 supermarkets in 2015 and nine in 2021 and Dien Bien had eight in 2015 and three in 2021.

Statistics show that many localities have had no new supermarkets set up in the last seven years, or have seen the number of supermarkets decreasing.

Vietnam is considered a very attractive retail market but it is not easy to build and maintain retail networks. Vietnamese and foreign retailers have poured big money into retail networks, but some have left after a period of operation.

Luong Bang