Japan’s Sumitomo and Vietnam’s BRG open first FujiMart in Hanoi

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Hai Yen 06:12, 2018/12/25

The supermarket would allow Vietnamese customers to buy high quality products while experiencing the Japanese way of shopping.

Japan’s general trader Sumitomo Group and its Vietnamese partner BRG Group on December 23 launched their first supermarket named FujiMart in Hanoi, local media reported.

Illustrative photo.

The FujiMart retail store model is part of a strategic cooperation agreement between BRG and Sumitomo signed in 2016. This is the first FujiMart store launched in Southeast Asia.

Nguyen Thi Nga, BRG chairwoman, said this store model has been a success in Japan, adding that the supermarket would allow Vietnamese customers to buy high quality products while experiencing the Japanese way of shopping.

Keisuke Hitosumatsu, CEO of FujiMart Vietnam, stated that both BRG and Sumitomo have available resources to ensure the success of FujiMart.

At present, there is approximately one convenience store per 69,000 Vietnamese citizens, compared to one per 21,000 in China and one per 1,800 in South Korea as of the end of 2016.

There remains room for the market to grow and a rapid change in market behavior of the Vietnamese customers could make the modern retail model a promising land.

In the FAST500 ranking recently released, the Vietnamese market witnessed a strong rise of the retail sector, reaching an annual growth rate of 63.7% in the 2013 – 2016 period. In 2017, the sale revenue from the retail sector in Vietnam stood at US$129 billion, up 11% year-on-year.

Vaughan Ryan, CEO of Nielsen Vietnam, said that the country has a total of 600,000 retail points of sale, in which the modern retail channel is 1,200 points, accounting for 25% of the market share. The rate is projected to increase to 45% by 2020, Ryan added.

Under this context, Vietnam’s retail market remains open for both local and foreign companies, said Ryan.

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