HCM City (VNA) – A trade promotion initiative linking Vietnamese businesses with Lotte Mart Vietnam officially opened in Ho Chi Minh City on September 26.
The four-day event, co-organised by the HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC) and Lotte Mart Vietnam, is one of the city’s key trade promotion activities this year, allowing Vietnamese goods to impress domestic consumers while gradually expanding to international markets.
Addressing the opening ceremony at the Lotte Mart Southern Saigon supermarket, ITPC Director Tran Phu Lu noted that Vietnam’s export is facing headwinds due to global volatility, especially reciprocal tariffs from the US. He said this is a reminder for businesses to tap into the nearly 100-million-strong domestic market – often described as a “gold mine” – to sustain production while building a solid platform for international expansion.
For years, the ITPC has worked with leading domestic and international retailers to organise annual programmes connecting local producers with modern distribution systems. These events have supported over 700 enterprises and drawn 10,000 visitors, reflecting the growing presence of Vietnamese goods on modern retail shelves.
The 2025 edition marks the first milestone in the cooperation between the ITPC and Lotte Mart Vietnam, with concrete support for Vietnamese companies, enabling them to strengthen their presence in both domestic and foreign distribution chains, Lu added.
Park Dong Hwan, head of Product Strategy at Lotte Mart Vietnam, said Lotte Mart is part of the Republic of Korea’s fifth-largest retail group, operating in 22 countries. Since entering Vietnam in 2008, it has opened 15 supermarkets nationwide, offering over 100,000 products and around 900 private-label items.
Over 40 selected enterprises are showcasing a wide variety of products – ranging from agricultural produce and processed foods to consumer goods, handicrafts, apparel and footwear. Many of them are small and medium-sized enterprises or innovative start-ups, gaining a rare opportunity to adapt their products, packaging, and quality to the increasingly demanding standards of customers.
Park said the trade week not only provides a showcase for local products but also offers Lotte Vietnam a platform to work directly with businesses to seek measures for strengthening competitiveness and meeting quality, safety and traceability standards.
The retailer pledged to support Vietnamese enterprises in building their brands and stretching their reach overseas.
Participating firms such as Nam Anh Manufacturing and Trading, which produces personal care products, viewed the event as a valuable chance to adapt to global distribution requirements and refine their products in response to rising competition.
In parallel with the showcase, a networking conference was also held on September 26 with the participation of more than 80 Vietnamese businesses. Lotte Mart’s category managers directly assessed products, with two key requirements: full certification and valid registration dossiers, and items not previously distributed in the Lotte system.
The conference bridged between enterprises and retailers, helping Vietnamese goods reach more consumers while laying the groundwork for broader regional and international market access./.
VNA
