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Specialty retailing, the new trend in Vietnam
Vietnam has seen the appearance of more and more specialty supermarts, considered the new trend in the modern age. Home appliance, laptop, digital product and mobile phone supermarts have burst onto the scene.
Consumers have become more and more demanding when selecting products to purchase. Therefore, specialty supermarts have emerged to satisfy consumers’ strict requirements.
Specialty supermarts springing up
According to Dao Xuan Khuong, General Director of Melinh Plaza, specialising in home products, in other countries like the US, Germany, France and Japan, specialty supermarts have been existing for years. Pharmacy supermarts, giant nurseries, wooden furniture, cement, and paint supermarts are all present.
The idea has only recently reached Vietnam: Home appliance and mobile phone supermarts have appeared on the scene aiming to satisfy the demands of the young.
Prof Masayoshi Maruyama from Japan's Kobe University said that in Japan, specialty supermarts have gradually replaced general supermarts, and the trend will also happen in Vietnam. He said there would be separate supermarts for fresh food and dried food.
As for fresh food, Prof Maruyama said that the traditional market system in Vietnam proves to be very competitive in price, freshness and convenience. Meanwhile, modern supermarts in Vietnam are not really attractive to housewives as they doubt the methods of food storage.
Nguyen Thanh Luu, General Director of 24h Supermart Joint-stock Company, said that in the future, "hypermarts" that sell articles of daily necessity will not exist. “Consumers will be able to purchase these products at nearby convenience stores or call and place orders, instead of travelling a long distance to get the products,” Luu said.
However, Nguyen Thai Dung, Deputy General Director of Bourbon Trade International Company Ltd, which is running Big C supermart chains, said that the model of specialty supermarts will only be suitable in some fields, such as construction materials, while general supermarts will still have their positions in the market.
Different models of retail exist concurrently in the world, each of which has its own advantages. For example, hypermarts can meet the diversified demands of people, while small supermarts or convenience stores can provide necessities quickly.
Where the consumers have a lot of choices
According to Maruyama, the most important thing to consumers is big selection. That explains why people prefer buying products at mobile phone supermarts, though mobile phones can also be purchased at many other shops.
Khuong firmly believes that general supermarts cannot satisfy the wide range of demands of consumers, while specialty supermarts can. For example, at specialty supemarts, if consumers need to buy cups, they have more than 10 choices from over 10 suppliers. Meanwhile, at general supermarts, they have only a few choices.
VNN
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