VietNamNet Bridge – Parkson has returned, while Ocean Group has jumped into the HCM City market. The moves taken by the big guys are believed to heat up the market.

Any slight commotion by the “big guys” would have influences to the retail premises market.

On March 15, Parkson, the big guy from Malaysia, took delivery of six trade floors at Léman Luxury Apartments in district 3 developed by C.T Group. This is the second project co-developed in cooperation between Parkson and C.T Group. The other one is Parkson Shopping Mall at C.T Plaza in Tan Binh which has been operational.

Prior to that, in December 2013, the shopping mall exploiter, belonging to Malaysian Lion Group, inaugurated another shopping mall in district 2, its eighth shopping mall in Vietnam.

As such, Parkson has developed nine shopping malls, including six in HCM City, two in Hanoi and one in Hai Phong City) with the total floor area of 172,000 square meters, since the day it arrived in Vietnam in June 2005.

The retail premises area occupied by Parkson Vietnam is the third largest among the six markets Parkson has invested in so far, including Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Vietnam.

However, the number of Parkson shopping malls in Vietnam is really modest if compared with China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Tham Tuck Choy, General Director of Parkson Vietnam, said 2013 was a difficult year for Parkson and retailers, but declined to talk about the revenue.

However, The Edge Financial Daily has reported that the revenue of Parkson Holdings Bhd, which holds the controlling stakes of Parkson Retail Asia, was lower by 4.2 percent in the first quarter 2014 than the 2013’s first quarter, while the shopping malls in Vietnam’s revenue decreased by 2 percent.

Though the market is getting tougher, Parkson still keeps confidence on the long term potentials of the Vietnamese market. It plans to open one or two more shopping malls a year, after considering the market performance and the retail premises market.

In 2014, a shopping mall would be opened in the central city of Da Nang, while Parkson are looking for retail premises to set up more shopping malls in Hanoi and Hai Phong.

Also in March 2014, South Korean Lotte Group put its seventh Lotte Mart in Vietnam into operation. This is one of the three shopping malls the group plans to set up this year. The other two are located in the Go Vap district in HCM City and in Can Tho City.

The Japanese Aeon would put its second shopping mall into operation in Binh Duong province after it opened the first one in Tan Phu district in HCM City.

Not only foreign investors, Vietnamese corporations have also jumped into the market. Ocean Group is about to inaugurate a shopping mall on the Van Thanh “golden land plot” in HCM City.

The ambitious business plans to develop 70-80 Ocean marts and Ocean malls nationwide by 2015 which would cover the area of 200,000 square meters in total.

Ocean Group, together with Vincom, the Vietnamese financially powerful groups, are believed to be the redoubtable rivals for foreign investors.

Ocean Group has made its presence in the southern market by developing the five Vissai Hotel.

DNSG