Foreigner retailers to move in on Vietnam

HCM City (VNA) - Foreign retailers like Metro Cash & Carry, Big C, and Parkson are all planning to increase their presence in the promising Vietnamese market.

The German-based Metro Cash & Carry said it plans to expand its
wholesale-retail network from five to 12 soon.

France 's Big C is set to open more outlets and the Republic of Korea
(RoK)- based Lotte Mart Group will soon launch its second supermarket in
District 7 in HCM City .

Another RoK operator, GS Retail, plans to open 10 shopping centres in Binh
Duong province in the next two years.

But while foreign enterprises are scrambling to expand their presence in
Vietnam , local rivals appear to be lax.

Co-op Mart had said earlier it plans to open 10 new outlets this year, but
by the end of August it has opened only four.

The Vietnam Textile and Garment Corp (Vinatex) had announced plans for
nearly 100 new supermarkets by 2010, but has not opened even one in recent
months.

Domestic supermarkets blamed their sluggishness on high inflation, property
market volatility and rising construction material prices.

With Vietnam having to fulfil its WTO market-opening commitments by the
end of next year, domestic firms have to brace for stiff competition from
better equipped foreign investors.

This year, Vietnam has overtaken India as the most attractive emerging
retail market destination, according to the Global Retail Development Index
released by A.T. Kearney last June.

In the first half of this year retail sales in Vietnam were worth 447.3
trillion VND (27 billion USD), an increase of 30 percent over the same
period last year, according to the General Statistics Office.

The country's retail sales are set to grow at 13.6 percent annually between
2008 and 2012, according to another global market research firm,
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