Aeon looks to open 500 grocery stores in Vietnam

An Aeon Ministop store is seen in HCMC. The Japanese retailer has plans to develop 500 grocery stores in Vietnam by 2025

The firm is preparing to open more small stores in emerging Asian markets like Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam. In particular, it aims to raise the number of its stores in Vietnam by almost nine-fold to 500 by 2025.

Although Aeon is known for its large shopping centers, it is easier and cheaper to set up small grocery stores. By opening a large number of stores here in the country, it expects to facilitate its brand recognition.

The company has teamed up with two local store chains to expand the number of its grocery stores in the country to 57. The Japanese retailer began holding 30% and 49% stakes in Vietnamese supermarket chains Fivimart and Citimart respectively in early 2015.

Aeon is providing its Top Value products for Citimart and Fivimart supermarkets for sale, and cooperating with the two partners to promote those products as well as consolidate and expand their goods distribution.

These partnerships can also help Aeon reduce its initial outlays and at the same time pave the way for it to open shopping malls in Vietnam, according to industry watchers.

Aeon, which has four shopping malls in Hanoi, Binh Duong and HCMC, is regarded as a big competitor by other major retail rivals in Vietnam. It plans to build a new mall in Hanoi and another in Haiphong in the short run, and have 20 malls across the country by 2020.

Meanwhile, Aeon has been in partnership with Japan’s Sojitz Corporation to develop Ministop convenience stores. The two firms aim to raise the number of their joint outlets to 800 in the next eight years.

Therefore, the venture intends to expand the store franchise and provide business support for employees through partial investment of the parent company of Ministop Vietnam.

Aeon Vietnam has been running an e-commerce website at https://aeoneshop.com offering a variety of products like cosmetics, furniture, electronics, household appliances, bicycles, and stationery since early this year.