VietNamNet Bridge - The Vietnamese retail market is bustling with the expansion of existing brands and the appearance of newcomers, including 7-Eleven, the world's largest convenience chain. 

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On February 19, 7-Eleven announced its first recruitment campaign on the ‘7-Eleven in Viet Nam’ Facebook fanpage.

Foreign newspapers warned about 7-Eleven’s plan to conquer the Vietnamese market.

Tokyo News in mid-2015 reported that Seven&I Holdings announced it would join the Vietnamese market and planned to open its first shop in HCMC in April 2017.

Though the partners in the Seven System joint venture were not specified, Nikkei news service said the partner in Vietnam would be IFB Holdings, which brought Pizza Hut to Vietnam.

The Vietnamese retail market is bustling with the expansion of existing brands and the appearance of newcomers, including 7-Eleven, the world's largest convenience chain. 
Analysts noted that in the official announcement about its joining the Vietnamese market, 7-Eleven pointed out that it would open 100 shops within three years and 1,000 shops in the next 10 years.

If so, the number of 7-Eleven shops will be small compared with the number that Vietnamese retailers have or plan to have. Vinmart, for example, now has more than 1,000 Vinmart+ shops throughout country, and plans to open 10,000 shops in the next 10 years.

Some other foreign chains, which came to Vietnam earlier, have also built up large networks. Circle K has more than 210 shops, while Ministop has over 70. 

Commenting about the power of 7-Eleven, some analysts said the convenience store chain will not find it easy to make money in Vietnam, as it has to compete with many other rivals.

Vinmart+, for example, with financial support from Vingroup, the largest domestic real estate group with a high number of shops, will not be afraid of foreign competitors such as Circle K, Ministop or 7-Eleven.

Who will 7-Eleven have to compete with in Vietnam? They include experienced retailers such as Shop&Go which has been in Vietnam for 11 years, Circle K (8 years), B’s Mart (7 years) and Ministop (5  years).

However, analysts believe that the biggest threat for 7-Eleven will come from large conglomerates which have powerful financial capability, invest in many fields and vow to obtain big pieces of the retail market. They are Vingroup, The Gioi Di Dong, FPT and Vinamilk.

Vingroup and The Gioi Di Dong, which have a lot of money, will take losses in the first years of operation to expand their market share.

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Thanh Mai