Vietnam’s retail market is expected to grow fast to meet strong increases in shopping and recreational demand from 2018 – 2021, said Pham Thai Binh, Head of Retail Leasing Savills Ho Chi Minh City.

According to Savills Vietnam, numerous renowned international retailers plan to invest in the sector in Vietnam, including Thailand’s TCC group and Central Group, Singapore’s Mapple Tree and Kepple Land, Korean Lotte and Emart and Japanese Aeon and Takashimaya.

The participation of the foreign investors will help enhance retail service quality via mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and cooperation between domestic and foreign retailers.

The market also has room for shopping malls, supermarkets and one-price shops using technology in operation and management.

Online shopping and non-cash payments will be among factors to change Vietnam’s retail market, Binh commented.

In 2017, Vietnam’s retail sector earned nearly 129 billion USD, up 11 percent from 2016, a high growth compared with other nations in Southeast Asia.

With an over-90 million population,  nearly 70 percent of which are at working age, 34 percent living in urban areas and annual income per capita reaching 2,385 USD, Vietnam is considered to have huge room for retail growth.

Hanoi and HCM City are the two most developed cities, with a total combined retail area of 2.5 million square metres.

However, the figure represents an average of 0.2 square metres per person, much lower than in other regional cities, such as Thailand’s Bangkok at 0.89 square metres, Singapore (0.75 square metres), China’s Beijing (0.65 square metres), Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur (0.64 square metres) and Indonesia’s Jakarta (0.44 square metres).-VNA