Japan retailer Nojima enters local electronics market

At the investment collaboration signing ceremony in Hanoi last Friday, Tran Xuan Kien, chairman and general director of Tran Anh, informed his firm would make the most of the deal value of VND64 billion from Nojima to expand its network. The local retailer aims to develop a large-sized supermarket chain of electronics, computers and mobile devices at home.

Tran Anh now is running the largest electronics supermarket chain in the country’s north. It is looking to increase the total number of supermarkets in Hanoi to 10 before the end of this year before expanding business to HCMC and other big cities.

Besides contributing investment capital, Nojima will send Japanese experts to Tran Anh to jointly build up a long-term business strategy and improve customer services for the local company. With 54 years of experiences in the Japanese electronics retail market with nearly 180 electronics supermarkets, the Yokohama-based retailer is expected to blow a fresh wind into Tran Anh, starting from customer services, to bring the highest benefit for customers at its retail stores.

Hiroshi Nojima, president of Nojima Corporation, said his company had studied the Vietnamese electronics retail market thoroughly before deciding to make a business tie-up with Tran Anh. Nojima sees Tran Anh as a local retail company with a proper business strategy and corporate governance system appropriate with the long-term development vision.

Tran Anh, floating its shares on the bourse in early 2010, now is the only listed retail company specializing in electronics products, computers and mobile devices in Vietnam.

Although retailers of electronic products and phones have been in trouble in the past two years due to the declining buying power, the market is still appealing to foreign investors via mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

Before Nojima, Robert A. Willet, former CEO of BestBuy International, had invested in Thegioididong.com after Mekong Capital Enterprise Fund II divested partly from the local retail chain.

Together with an investment of Willet, CDH Electric Bee Limited also invested in Thegioididong.com. Willet and Electric Bee hold a combined stake of 20.41%, Mekong Capital holds 25.84% and the remaining stake at Thegioididong.com with 51.26% is held by founding members.

Two years ago, TD Mobile of Japan had also purchased a 30% stake in the retail chain Vien Thong A.

Nguyen Duc Tai, chairman of Thegioididong.com, said that with a network of over 220 stores nationwide, the firm’s future challenges was not simply to expand the network but also to increase profits and operation efficiency. Therefore, Thegioididong.com is in need of Willet’s experiences.

Thegioididong.com will open many electronics stores in the coming time. Besides, it targets to raise online shopping at the websites Thegioididong.com and Dienmay.com to 20% of total revenues.