Photo: cafef

The nation’s leading retailer, Saigon Co.op, has chosen to invest in convenient stores in residential areas in its strategy to cope with increasing competition when Vietnam gradually opens its retail market under WTO commitment.

According to Saigon Co.op’s general director Nguyen Thi Hanh, the company will launch a food store at a high-end apartment in Ho Chi Minh City on December 27. This is the first of a series of 20 similar stores the company plans to open in 2009.

Saigon Co.op hopes to open 120 more such stores by 2012, with average capital of between 2-10 billion VND for each shop.

These stores will be opened from 6a.m to 9p.m to sell all kinds of foods from fresh to cooked and frozen foods. They will also offer convenient services such as advising customers on daily and weekend menu or delivering foods on orders by telephone.

Besides food stores, the company has opened four more Co.op Mart supermarkets in Ho Chi Minh City, southern Ben Tre province and Central Highlands Dak Lak province over the past month.

The new stores have brought the number of Co.op supermarkets in Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring provinces to 34.

Saigon Co.op’s strategy is seen as sensible by experts from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, who said domestic enterprise should focus on small and medium-scale retail models.

Source: VNA