Five Vietnamese enterprises roll out co-branding card

August 08, 2013 | 14:18

(0) user say

Vietnam’s leading retailer Saigon Co.op and major banks Vietcombank, BIDV and DongA Bank launched a co-branding partnership last week amid fiercer retail competition in the country.

The newly-launched card is a combination of the close customer cards of two supermarket chains Co.opmart an Co.opXtra, and debit cards of the three leading Vietnamese banks. Co.opmart is the Vietnamese retailer’s own brand, while Co.opXtra is one of the two brands of Saigon Co.op-FairPrice, a joint venture between the Vietnamese retailer and Singapore’s leading retailer NTUC FairPrice, set up this May.

The new card is a replacement for cash payment and also a banking card. The four Vietnamese enterprises will issue more than 15 million cards for the new partnership, projected to increase the number of customer and cut costs for them. The cardholder will get some separate discounts for the five enterprises’ promotional programmes when shopping at Co.opmart an Co.opXtra supermarkets.

Saigon Co.op CEO Nguyen Thi Hanh said all of the supermarkets, as well as mega-supermarket Co.opXtra Plus Thu Duc in Ho Chi Minh City, had already accepted this card payment.

Saigon Co.op-FairPrice’s Co.opXtra brand is for individual consumers and households, while Co.opXtra Plus targets corporate buyers like enterprises, factories, schools, restaurants and hotels.

BIDV deputy CEO Tran Xuan Hoa said five million among the 15 million customers mentioned were BIDV clients. He added banks in Vietnam were now seeking to intensify relations with retailers as they were promoting retail banking, while the retail industry was being a very hot business, where the race includes both local enterprises and international retailers.

Among the 15 customers, six million would be DongA Bank clients, said Pham Van Bu, the lender’s chairman.

By By Tuong Thuy

What the stars mean:

★ Poor ★ ★ Promising ★★★ Good ★★★★ Very good ★★★★★ Exceptional