|
Wal-Mart may not enter Vietnam: Metro Director
Randy Guttery, General Director of Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam, has given some predictions about the domestic distribution market.
He said that in general, the opening of the distribution market will benefit customers, the market and local production as well, as producers will have more opportunities to bring their products to customers.
However, he said that Vietnam should think carefully about the roadmap on the opening of the market to make it suitable to the country’s infrastructure development and the demand of the national economy.
Vietnam needs to consider the possible impacts of the opening of some hypermarts on traffic, traffic jams and other issues, he said.
Once an employee of the world’s well-known Wal-Mart, he believes that it is not very likely that Wal-Mart will arrive in Vietnam, though many Vietnamese people think that the giant distributor will enter Vietnam as soon as it is allowed. The hypermart chain will only make investment in a market if it believes that it can gain the turnover of $700mil after two years of investment, while Vietnam’s market is not developing as rapidly as that.
Talking about the operational supermart system, he said that some big supermarts want to follow the wholesale model like Metro’s. However, they cannot do that, because there is a difference between wholesale and retail, and retailers should focus on the work of retailers.
Regarding competition in the distribution market, he said that supermarts and distribution points will have to face two redoubtable rivals, Tesco and Dairy Farm.
Both have origins, more or less relating to China, where the retail skills are very good, he said.
He also said that when more foreign supermart investors arrive in Vietnam to do business, domestic consumers will realise where they need to go, to wholesale points to buy retail, or to retail points to buy retail.
VNN
|
