The sadness of heritage

That large retailers with strong financial strength and good governance joining the Vietnamese drugs distribution market is expected to drive the domestic pharmaceutical retail market forward in the coming time. VinFa last week officially launched its first pharmacy chain in Hanoi  Conglomerate Vingroup last weekend officially entered the pharmaceutical retail segment, with a launch of its VinFa Pharmacy chain in Hanoi. VinFa’s first eleven stores have been opened at Vingroup’s VinMart + convenience stores in urban areas or apartment buildings. With a series of locations in trade centers and large-scale urban areas, VinFa promises to become a heavy-weight competitor of other big retailers, such as Mobile World Group, FPT Retail, Nguyen Kim Group and Digiworld JSC (DGW), which have entered in the pharmaceutical retail market over the past year. Mobile World Group late last year showed ambitions to break into the pharmaceuticals segment, acquiring Ho Chi Minh … [Read more...] about Pharmaceutical retail market heats up with big players

VietNamNet Bridge - Investment and goods flowing from Europe to Vietnam have increased greatly as the EU-Vietnam FTA will take effect next year. Vietnam sees new investment wave from Europe De’Longhi, the Italian household-use manufacturer, is selling electrical household appliances and kitchenware to Vietnam. The products, bearing Ariete and Vintage brands, are now distributed in Vietnam through An Gia Tien JSC. Investment and goods flowing from Europe to Vietnam have increased greatly as the EU-Vietnam FTA will take effect next year. An analyst noted that instead of importing machines and equipment from Asian markets, including China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, Vietnamese enterprises now tend to import European products. RELATED NEWS Vietnam, EU resolved to push for early signing of EVFTA Vietnam, EU show efforts to soon put EVFTA in place Nam Mai … [Read more...] about Vietnam sees new investment wave from Europe

Vietnam Airlines receives first Airbus A321neo plane The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has received its first Airbus A321neo from US-based Aviation Capital Group (ACG) in Hamburg, Germany earlier this week. The new aircraft will be used for domestic flights and routes connecting destinations in Southeast Asia.  It is among the 20 new-generation A321neo planes the airline plans to lease from the ACG, ICBC Leasing of China, and US-based Air Lease Corporation (ALC), expected to be fully delivered by the end of 2019. These planes will help expand its aircraft fleet to about 110 in 2020. Khanh T. Tran, president and CEO of ACG, expressed his delight at the delivery and stressed the company looks forward to Vietnam Airlines operating these highly fuel-efficient aircraft in their growing route network. For his part, Vietnam Airlines’ president and CEO Duong Tri Thanh said his firm selected the Airbus A321neo for its exceptional operational performance with 15-20 percent … [Read more...] about BUSINESS NEWS IN BRIEF 19/11

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam’s banking sector, after overcoming a difficult period because of high bad debt in 2012-2014, has begun recovering. BIDV, one of four state-owned banks, has consulted with shareholders on a plan to issue shares to the foreign strategic investor KEB Hana Bank from South Korea. Vietnam’s banking sector, after overcoming a difficult period because of high bad debt in 2012-2014, has begun recovering. However, BIDV and Vietcombank are not the first banks taking full advantage of the foreign capital flow to Vietnam to raise their charter capital. US$1=VND22,000 RELATED NEWS Banks need hundreds of million of dollars for digitalization How are foreign banks performing in Vietnam? Mai Chi … [Read more...] about Foreign capital returns to Vietnam’s banks

VietNamNet Bridge - As the supply of apartments is now large, many apartment owners have decided to earn extra money from renting apartments by the hour, though it is not allowed by current law. It's easy to find apartments available for rent by the hour It is easy to find apartments available for rent by the hour. Facebook pages of groups of apartment residents have ads with detailed information about apartments – the area, location and characteristics. Landlords sometimes even show the interior decor of apartments for clients’ choice. Apartments for hourly rent are mostly available at Vinhomes Central Park, Saigon Pearl in Binh Thanh district and Novaland in district 4. The rental is quoted in US dollars.  The rates are rents for entire apartments. Meanwhile, those who share apartments with others only have to pay $25 a day only. If guests want to rent by the hour, they would have to pay less, but no less than $20 for two hours. RELATED NEWS Exploring … [Read more...] about Apartments for rent by hour plentiful in HCMC

VietNamNet Bridge - Many Vietnam’s specialties are available in the world market, but most are Thai and Hong Kong made products. 'Chaudoc' coconut milk in the US is not from Vietnam Nguyen Hai, a Vietnamese student in the US, said he goes to Vietnamese markets to buy food when he craves traditional restaurant dishes. “Vietnam’s specialties can be found easily in the US. However, most of the products are from Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong. There is nearly no product made in Vietnam,” he said. A report found that in the US, more than 9,000 shops sell pho, the Vietnamese noodle soup famous all over the world, and many of the shops are not owned by Vietnamese and the soup does not have a truly Vietnamese formula and flavor. Fresh instant pho products are available at large retail chains in the US, but they are made by a Thai enterprise. The high profit prompted the enterprise to set up a 2 million packs per day factory  in the US to provide to retail chains. … [Read more...] about Thai-made products in US sell Vietnamese pho, other specialties

Edelweiss launches Zurich-HCMC air service Vinalines to auction shares of its subsidiary    Viet Nam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) will auction over 13.44 million shares of its holding in Viet Nam Transport and Chartering Joint Stock Company (Vitranschart) on December 5, the Ha Noi Stock Exchange has announced. The shares, accounting for a 22.03 per cent stake of Vitranschart, will be auctioned at the Ha Noi bourse at the starting price of VND1,200 (5 US cents) a share. Vinalines is currently Vitranschart’s parent shareholder with a total of 35.4 million shares, equivalent to 58 per cent of the firm’s voting shares in circulation. Currently, Vitranschart is trading at VND700 per share, and there is almost no matched stock in recent sessions. Vitranschart reported a loss of more than VND182 billion in the first nine months of 2018. Although this figure was VND40 billion lower than in the same period last year, the loss contributed to raising the accumulated … [Read more...] about BUSINESS NEWS IN BRIEF 18/11

VietNamNet Bridge - Franchisers in the food & beverage (F&B) sector have been told to continue their business model to prosper, but it is the service sector which will be the future of the franchise industry. Franchising in service sector is poised to boom At the 2018 Retail & Franchise Trade Fair held some days ago in HCMC, many businesses found cooperation opportunities. Many foreign brands of tea, coffee, cakes and tools for bars, cafes and restaurants have also seen opportunities to approach customers. Notably, the franchisers’ associations from Malaysia, Korea and Taiwan also attended the fair to promote their business. Nguyen Tuyet Nhung, CEO of Nana, a brand specializing in ‘purely Vietnamese’ food such as banh cuon (steamed rolled rice pancake), xoi xeo (steamed glutinous rice) and banh te (rice cake), confirmed that many businesspeople came to her stalls with suggestion for cooperation.Growing tendency RELATED NEWS Foreign giants … [Read more...] about Franchising in service sector poised to boom

The presence of global leading companies in Vietnam, including Aeon Mall, Auchan, Lotteria, Starbucks, among others, shows the huge potential and attraction of the country’s retail market, the government portal reported. Multinational companies expand operation Starbucks opened its first shop in Ho Chi Minh city in 2013. Now, five years later, the coffee house chain is operating 34 shops. Lotte Mart, the retail division of South Korean conglomerate Lotte Group, also planned to open 60 stores in Vietnam by 2020, while South Korean leading retailer GS Retail is expected to open 2,500 convenience stores in Vietnam in the next 10 years through its joint-venture GS25 Vietnam.  Japan’s Family Mart currently has 130 stores in Vietnam and expected to open 700 more by 2020. Similarly, the US food retailer 7-Eleven made its presence in Vietnam in June 2017 and planned to open 100 stores by 2020 and 1,000 in the next ten years.  Recently, e-commerce giant Amazon also … [Read more...] about World major brands flock to Vietnam retail market

Cushman & Wakefield Vietnam has released its latest report on Vietnam's retail market for the third quarter of 2018. HCMC: Market performance improves marginally Two new retail outlets were completed in the third quarter and one retail outlet converted its retail space into office space for lease while another closed. Retail stock was recorded at more than 1.26 million sq m, up 2.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 6.6 per cent year-on-year. The overall occupancy rate grew 1 percentage point (ppt) quarter-on-quarter and 4 ppts year-on-year to 93 per cent. This is viewed as a moderate improvement. New entrants accounted for over 90 per cent of total absorption in the quarter. New supply drives up rent Market-wide average rent in the third quarter of 2018 climbed 5.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 7.4 per cent year-on-year, to approximately $54.5 sq m per month, due to high rentals quoted by new retail outlets. “Tenancy mixes in shopping malls are still focused on … [Read more...] about Hanoi & HCMC retail market both rising