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Japanese convenience store chain to enter Vietnam
FamilyMart, Japan’s third-largest convenience-store operator, will open its first outlet in Vietnam this year and plans to have a chain of up to 300 stores in the nation by 2014, executive officer Takehiko Kigure said.
The Tokyo-based retailer will set up a venture with Phu Thai Group, a Vietnamese distribution company, to operate the chain, Kigure said by telephone earlier this week. Japanese trading house Itochu Corp., FamilyMart’s biggest shareholder, would assist with product development and distribution, he said.
Phu Thai said in a statement Saturday the venture is to begin operations in September.
Phu Thai will be “the biggest shareholder” in the venture, the statement said. The venture will first focus on Ho Chi Minh City before expanding to other major cities, including Hanoi and Da Nang.
It will be the first major Japanese convenience store chain to enter Vietnam, as FamilyMart and rivals like Seven-Eleven look overseas amid a gloomy outlook in Japan due to an ageing population and a saturated market with over 40,000 stores.
“Vietnam’s population is young, and we see potential in its consumer demand,” Reuters quoted FamilyMart spokesman Takashi Shinno as saying on Tuesday.
The retailer has been expanding aggressively in Asia, and it has about 4,200 stores in South Korea and 2,300 in Taiwan.
It plans to add 667 stores overseas in the year to February 2010, bringing its total stores abroad to 7,914 and topping the number of stores it has Japan.
Industry leader Seven-Eleven, a unit of Seven & I Holdings, and No. 2 Lawson Inc have also been opening more stores in Asian markets, mainly China.
thanhnien, vietnamplus
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