MWG Chairman Nguyen Duc Tai confirmed with VET that its Board of Management has announced the company’s business plan for 2017, with total revenue and after-tax profit to reach VND63.3 trillion ($2.83 billion) and VND2.2 trillion ($98.6 million), up 85 per cent and 58.5 per cent against 2016, respectively.

In early November he announced that after-tax profit for 2016 has been estimated at VND1.5 trillion to VND1.6 trillion ($67.5 million to $71.7 million) and it would have 1,200 stores nationwide by the end of the year.

The company planned to earn revenue of VND34.2 trillion ($1.53 billion) this year but in the first eleven months the figure already stood at VND39.6 trillion ($1.77 billion), up 76 per cent year-on-year and equal to 116 per cent of the annual target.

After-tax profit in the first eleven months was VND1.4 trillion ($627.8 million), up 51 per cent year-on-year and equal to 104 per cent of the annual target. Turnover at thegioididong.com was VND28 trillion ($1.25 billion), a 50 per cent increase year-on-year, and VND11.7 trillion ($524.6 million) at dienmayxanh.com, 207 per cent higher year-on-year.

Online turnover reached VND2.94 trillion ($131.8 million), up 103 per cent year-on-year and equal to 89 per cent of the annual target.

Mr. Tai also announced the group was the third largest retailer in the country, behind Co.op Mart with $1.2 billion in turnover and Big C with $900 million. “The company will overtake these two retailers in the near future with $1.8 billion in turnover,” he said. “We have determined that our growth strategy in the 2016-2018 period will rely on the thegioididong.com and dienmayxanh.com chains and the online business. In the 2019-2025 period our strategy will focus on Bach Hoa Xanh and vuivui.com - our online supermarket.”

Bach Hoa Xanh targets Vietnamese housewives who prefer to save time on shopping by visiting chain stores. Its turnover now stands at VND1 billion ($44,700) per month in each outlet. Eighty stores are to be opened in cities and provinces around the country and its business results for 2017 will prove how effective this model is. “If we succeed we will launch a range of stores nationwide by 2018,” Mr. Tai said. “For now, we cannot give any figures on profits from Bach Hoa Xanh.”

There is major potential in Vietnam’s grocery sector, which is worth $60 billion; higher than the value in both the mobile devices and consumer electronics industries, of $6 billion. Bach Hoa Xanh expects to account for 10 per cent of total grocery turnover.

vuivui.com has launched a website in Ho Chi Minh City, and Mr. Tai said the online business accounts for 5 per cent of total retail turnover and will expand to 20 per cent in the future. “MWG plans to become the No. 1 online retailer by 2020,” he said.

Its online business holds a 10 per cent market share, he added, and leads the online retail market, followed by Lazada. Its thegioididong.com chain stores accounted for 40 per cent of mobile retail share as at October, according to GfK. Small mom & pop stores accounted for 20 per cent while other chain stores accounted for 40 per cent.

Its dienmayxanh.com chain stores, meanwhile, accounted for 16-17 per cent of total consumer electronics retail share as at October and is expected to reach a 30 per cent share by the end of 2017. The company is pouring hundreds of billions of Vietnam dong into branding dienmayxanh.com this year and next year.

VN Economic Times