HCM City’s retail market vibrant despite COVID-19

HCM City’s retail market has seen a number of mergers and acquisitions recently (Photo: VNA)

HCM City (VNA) - Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City in particular are considered to hold promise for retailers from home and abroad on the back of the large, young population and rising consumer price index amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The municipal Statistics Office reported that the total retail sale of goods and services in the city reached over 456.1 trillion VND (19.8 billion USD) in the first five months of this year, up 8.9 percent year-on-year. The May figure topped 89.9 trillion VND, down 0.1 percent month-on-month but up 13.1 percent year-on-year.

Five-month trade revenue hit 255.5 trillion VND, up 9.5 percent compared to the same period last year. Accommodation and dining services earned more than 32.1 trillion VND, up 30.8 percent year-on-year.

Most notably, the city’s retail market saw a number of merger and acquisitions, while retailers and companies are competing to win market share via opening new points of sale and marketing trademarks in residential areas.

Director of Commercial Leasing at Savills Vietnam Tu Thi Hong An said the retail real estate sector in HCM City is receiving foreign investment flows from new franchises in dining, fashion, and accessories.

She added that one day after a deal between Republic of Korea retailer E-mart and the Truong Hai Auto Corporation (THACO) was announced, Chinese giant Alibaba and Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA) reached a deal to outlay 400 million USD on buying a 5.5 percent stake in The CrownX, an e-commerce platform owned by the Masan Group Corporation, to operate the VinMart and VinMart+ supermarket chains.

The deal is one of the largest for Alibaba in Southeast Asia since it bought Lazada in 2018 for 4 billion USD. It will give Alibaba and Lazada access a network of more than 2,000 outlets without having to spend time and money establishing a distribution network. Consumers will also see products sold in VinMart available on Lazada and can pick up orders from Lazada at VinMart./.